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02-07-2024, 01:24 PM
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#261 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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New York Yankees
New York Yankees
69-86, 5th AL East, 25 1/2 GB 1972 Outlook: The 1970 division win marked the 4th time the Yankees had made the playoffs since 1965 but also the first time in 3 years. The team felt that the first number was more apropos to their chances than the second and so they kept retooling and more or less cleared out their farm system in the process. In 1971 they hit what ought to have been a breaking point with an 80-82 finish, the team's worst record since 1954 (67-87). Had it been anyone but the Yankees, they'd have taken it for what it was and started the process to rebuild. The Yankees do not rebuild. The Yankees only restar. 1972 In Review: And so, when they started the season 4-8, 12-27, and 20-44, it seemed like the old chickens were truly coming home to roost. The old vets they'd traded for were mostly already gone by the time Opening Day hit. They still had Ty Stover on the roster, albeit in a diminished capacity (even that was too much for the 39 year old, who retired in July after hitting .186 with just 2 HRs in 97 at-bats). They were committing to younger players but those younger players were mostly the non-prospects they hadn't been able to trade for win-now help the last couple seasons. And then... the youngsters started to play well. Like, on a dime the team turned themselves around, going 16-14 in July, 19-14(33 games!!!) in August, and then wrapping up the year with a 16-14 September and October. The team did it with just 2 +30 players in the lineup and only 2 guys on the pitching staff over 30 playing major innings in the second half. 1973 Outlook: The AL East is staaaaacked, to the point that the new-look Yankees could easily finish over .500 and still finish 5th. Knowing these guys, they're likely to take on some big-salary boys over the next couple years as well. The Yankees are their name and evil is their game. Pitching Tracy Mosher LHP No. 15 LL, 5'11" 198 lbs. Born 1938-09-13 in Fort McMurray, CAN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 NYY MLB 25 12 0 2.66 40 40 20 323.2 282 106 96 64 243 1971 NYY MLB 19 17 0 3.39 39 39 14 291.1 287 127 110 64 209 1972 NYY MLB 11 15 0 3.60 33 33 9 249.1 219 105 100 83 148 Mosher is a 176 game winner who's won the Cy Young Award twice in his career. In the past he did it with low-90s speed and wicked movement on his curve and change. The latter two pitches are nice but his fastball no longer fools hitters as much as it used to. His K rate last year was the lowest of his career; usually he's a solid bet for 200 strikeouts. Along with the drop in strikeout-level stuff has come a rise in HRs, culminating in 32 allowed in 1969 and 29 in '71. He's not exactly homer-averse over the course of his career: Mosher is 17th all time in HRs allowed with 260. Too often over the past couple seasons, those HRs have come with men on base. Mosher's still a safe bet for Opening Day Starter; there's just nobody else in the rtoation who's quite ready to answer the call. This might be the last one for him though. Gene Lueders LHP No. 38 LL, 6'1" 204 lbs. Born 1945-07-20 in Pecan Plantation, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 TUC AAA 2 1 0 3.91 3 3 2 23.0 23 11 10 4 17 1970 CHW MLB 4 9 0 5.16 23 17 2 120.1 144 77 69 54 80 1971 NYY MLB 6 6 0 3.49 35 17 5 136.2 141 58 53 43 60 1972 NYY MLB 10 17 0 3.39 32 32 11 246.1 217 98 93 94 110 Lueders was fine, at least in a back-of-the-rotation sense, for the Yankees in 1972. His out pitch is a forkball, although he didn't generate nearly as many grounders with it in '72 as he had in '71. Blame it on having lineups engineered to stop him, I guess. Although he's only 27 he's not at all a strikeout guy so he needs those pitches to land. Like so many finesse guys in the league, Lueders misses over as often as outside: now 2 years into his Yankee career he's allowed 31 HRs in 383 IP. There are guys just plain better than Lueders for this rotation. New York's still young and still not-contending enough to probably not move to a 4-man rotation but if they do - and even if they don't and they just decide to work with more fire - Lueders could well go back to the swing role he played in 1971. Manny Carbajal RHP No. 57 RR, 5'11" 199 lbs. Born 1942-10-25 in Amina, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 SYR AAA 4 0 0 2.22 10 10 1 60.2 49 16 15 6 69 1970 NYY MLB 1 5 0 6.63 14 6 1 40.2 54 34 30 7 28 1971 SYR AAA 6 0 0 1.91 7 7 5 61.0 42 14 13 11 28 1971 NYY MLB 2 1 0 3.27 23 3 1 57.2 50 25 21 12 46 1972 NYY MLB 11 16 0 2.63 32 32 11 246.0 225 77 72 59 156 Carbajal throws 4 pitches for strikes and is in between Mosher and Lueders on the strike-em-out continuum. He's gotten more Ks in relief which is a little weird I guess since his fastball is probably his least effective pitch and relievers usually just throw the heater + 1 or 2 other offerings but hey, what do I know. He had really good control last year which definitely helped him pitch into the later innings although HRs are and probably always will be an issue. The Yankees finished with Carbajal as their #3 guy, which seems about right for him. He's possibly capable of being a 1 or 2 but you wouldn't want to count on his arm holding up. John Carpenter LHP No. 20 LL, 5'11" 175 lbs. Born 1948-10-29 in West Carthage, NY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 BIR AA 3 4 0 3.57 8 8 2 63.0 57 32 25 28 47 1970 IOW AAA 6 4 0 2.75 11 11 2 78.1 68 27 24 33 74 1971 WH AA 3 2 0 1.84 5 5 5 44.0 35 11 9 22 32 1971 IOW AAA 4 4 0 2.41 9 9 5 74.2 52 21 20 35 41 1971 NYY MLB 2 1 0 2.58 5 5 1 38.1 34 11 11 14 32 1971 SYR AAA 8 3 0 2.86 14 14 2 103.2 95 42 33 38 56 1972 NYY MLB 14 14 0 3.25 31 31 7 229.1 204 90 83 84 140 Yet another lefty, Carpenter is also a guy who likes to keep his pitches, which include a 2-seam fastball and a split-finger "fastball", down in the zone. He generated an OK amount of strikeouts with them and there are hopes that as he matures he'll figure out how to mix them better and keep hitters guessing. He has the rep for holding runners well but they stole on him a lot last year: 19 successes in 25 chances. That'll be a point of emphasis for the future, as even a guy who sticks to first and doesn't get thrown out is a guy who is vulnerable to erasure via the double play. Carpenter isn't a super great fielder so needs the rest of his infield to help him out in that respect. At this point I'd probably call Carp the #2 man. By the end of 1973 he could very well be the staff ace. Ed Lagos RHP No. 1 RR, 5'9" 168 lbs. Born 1943-12-18 in Lexington, KY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 EP AA 0 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 1970 HAW AAA 1 1 2 2.81 11 0 0 16.0 17 8 5 3 10 1970 CAL MLB 2 2 0 2.47 22 0 0 51.0 57 16 14 4 25 1971 TUC AAA 2 3 6 2.73 23 0 0 29.2 33 10 9 10 24 1971 CHW MLB 0 0 0 4.10 25 0 0 30.2 29 14 14 4 13 1972 NYY MLB 6 3 8 2.63 42 0 0 54.2 50 16 16 14 23 Will Wright RHP No. 27 SR, 5'11" 188 lbs. Born 1945-08-24 in San Martin, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 MAN AA 0 0 1 1.17 6 0 0 7.2 6 5 1 6 12 1971 NYY MLB 4 0 2 3.54 47 0 0 58.1 46 24 23 34 54 1972 NYY MLB 2 3 3 3.73 40 0 0 43.1 37 18 18 22 27 A longtime Yankees organizational soldier who debutes in 1968, Wright is still 27 and was awfully effective in middle relief. Just, you know, don't put him in with the game on the line. Henning Mankell RHP No. 13 RR, 5'10" 153 lbs. Born 1948-01-20 in Stockholm, SWE Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 MAN AA 7 4 0 3.45 15 15 8 122.1 118 55 47 50 68 1970 SYR AAA 8 4 0 2.12 15 15 5 118.1 85 34 28 30 89 1971 SYR AAA 17 4 0 2.40 23 23 7 183.2 178 54 49 60 99 1971 NYY MLB 1 4 0 3.87 10 10 1 72.0 78 32 31 23 35 1972 SYR AAA 7 6 0 4.35 16 16 3 122.0 130 64 59 35 95 1972 NYY MLB 8 5 0 2.51 18 18 5 132.2 106 43 37 45 82 Infield Khalil Tabb C No. 39 RR, 5'10" 194 lbs. Born 1945-03-18 in Miami, FL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 NYY MLB .267 122 454 58 121 22 1 7 64 34 85 1 1971 NYY MLB .283 124 438 50 124 20 5 3 49 43 70 1 1972 NYY MLB .230 92 313 23 72 11 1 1 22 27 53 0 Because Tabb is an offense-first catcher, this loss to his average was a big blow and caused the Yankees to immediately look for potential replacements (see a possible one next). His arm is rather popgun-ish and he only threw out 27.5% of stealers last year, pretty much in line with what he did in 1971 (27.2%). Fans who thought he'd be average after his 34.7% 1970 have proven to be mistaken. He has the knees and therefore running speed of a catcher. Although he's not really a guy who's going to give a pitcher a good pep talk, he's pretty even-keeled out there and works hard, even when things aren't going his way as they were not last year. Tabb doesn't really have a great profile for a backup and anyway he wants to start. Will it be with the Yankees? I cannot answer that question at this time. John Lennon C No. 21 RR, 6'2" 195 lbs. Born 1949-02-14 in Liverpool, ENG Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 QUE R .136 7 22 1 3 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 1970 KIN A .429 2 7 1 3 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 1970 FL A .302 18 63 15 19 5 1 1 8 11 5 0 1970 MAN AA .349 18 63 7 22 2 0 0 12 5 8 2 1971 MAN AA .313 21 83 15 26 11 0 2 13 7 14 0 1971 SYR AAA .255 95 341 51 87 14 1 9 58 46 48 2 1971 NYY MLB .160 7 25 1 4 0 0 1 3 2 4 0 1972 NYY MLB .259 74 239 20 62 10 1 4 30 31 37 0 Lennon, like Tabb, is not very good defensively; the true form at catcher for this team is some third guy being the live-arm replacement for one of them. Lennon doesn't really know a lot about baseball so his pep talks to pitchers generally involve him talking to the other guy in his impenetrable Scouse accent and leaving his man bewildered. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. Lennon's only 23 but it really does feel like the time to move on from Tabb is now. Pete Jennings 1B No. 16 RR, 5'10" 200 lbs. Born 1941-06-26 in Rio Rancho, NM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CAL MLB .296 157 632 85 187 37 1 16 96 50 56 1 1971 CHW MLB .283 158 621 90 176 28 3 16 77 68 75 2 1972 NYY MLB .261 129 402 45 105 11 0 9 38 36 42 2 I'd say Jennings could hit 2nd with his bat control but he's so slow that he'd just clog up the basepaths for Phil Hartmann and Tiptoe Tommy Weiss behind him. He came up as a third baseman and while you wouldn't necessarily want to play him there anymore - he was moved after committing 32 errors in 1969 - he still fields the position with the agility that a third sacker would and the move to first does have the advantage of hiding his only-good arm. Jennings was on his 3rd team in 3 years and, if we're being honest, controversy seems to follow him wherever he goes. If he doesn't like the way he's being used, he'll tell you and everyone around him. He didn't like the way he was being used a lot last year. Jamil Mahuad 1B/LF No. 7 LL, 6'1" 196 lbs. Born 1949-07-29 in Loja, ECU Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 KIN A .310 71 294 45 91 15 1 8 45 15 24 7 1971 FL A .320 29 97 15 31 1 5 2 12 10 10 0 1971 MAN AA .276 95 377 54 104 25 2 5 50 23 39 1 1971 SYR AAA .511 13 47 17 24 3 0 6 14 8 2 0 1972 SYR AAA .319 83 342 63 109 19 4 20 63 15 52 3 1972 NYY MLB .250 67 200 32 50 10 2 8 38 19 22 1 Mahaud is a mistake hitter who did cut down on the strikeouts as he moved up into the major leagues. You look at the profile and think "dead pull hitter" but no, he will absolutely go to left field with an outside pitch, which bodes well for his future contact-hitting abilities. He's a bad fielder and when he does bother to work on anything baseball-related, it's on his hitting stroke, so don't expect much improvement there over the years. He's shown the stuff to where he could be a full-time DH but man, even in the first year of this rule that's not a place I want to put a 23 year old. For a guy with aspirations to one day be President (of Ecuador, not of the US), Mahaud keeps to himself. The presence of Jennings may mean I have to DH him whether I want to or not. Jonathan Banks 2B/SS No. 50 RR, 5'11" 193 lbs. Born 1947-01-08 in Washington, DC Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MAN AA .328 20 67 8 22 6 0 0 9 8 4 1 1970 PAW AA .234 107 401 34 94 16 1 0 33 31 57 0 1970 SYR AAA .500 1 4 0 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 1971 SYR AAA .298 85 315 32 94 22 2 3 43 29 27 0 1971 NYY MLB .313 56 211 25 66 15 2 0 20 13 21 0 1972 NYY MLB .267 127 454 32 121 20 1 1 43 22 37 0 Banks will never make anyone forget Stover. He's a singles hitter who could top out in the 280s or 290s but with zero power. Below average speed on the bases might keep him from hitting high in the order, although the Yankees did use him a lot at 2nd (150 at-bats total; his most-used position was 6th). The big thing that will keep him in the majors is his defense: he's a very good fielder at second, good enough to play shortstop if the need arises. He lacks great range but is fearless on the pivot and has nice, soft hands. Barring some kind of major injury, which is absolutely not a part of Banks' history, he'll be the team's #1 second baseman. It's hard to project stardom on him but then again the kid, old as he may look, is still just 25 years of age. Tom Weiss 3B No. 11 RR, 5'10" 188 lbs. Born 1939-10-05 in Norton Shores, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 NYY MLB .303 156 591 104 179 31 4 22 80 118 79 2 1971 NYY MLB .307 152 567 87 174 26 4 27 99 101 64 0 1972 NYY MLB .253 143 525 54 133 21 0 18 65 65 90 0 Although the raw numbers were way off from the past few seasons, a complete implosion by a couple of other 3rd basemen in this league meant he still made it to his 3rd straight All-Star Game. You'd do well to not just consider this an off year though: his Ks were way up and he didn't walk nearly as much as he did in the past. I should note that he still walked a good amount and this plus what Phil Hartmann did helped the team finish 4th in the league in that category. Weiss started cold (.163) and seemed tired at the end of the year (.229 average in September) even as he yielded starts to Jaak Joala. He's a hit-tool third baseman who at his best is only adequate in the field. He could be a decent first baseman should the team decide to move on from Jennings. I see the DH slot for New York to be something like a revolving door to keep a lot of guys in the game. Moving Weiss there vs. LHPs so that Joala (see below) can continue to develop in the major leagues might be one way to handle things. Jaak Joala 3B No. 9 RR, 6'1" 190 lbs. Born 1950-06-26 in Tallinn, EST Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 ONE S A .268 59 71 9 19 2 1 3 7 9 9 0 1971 FL A .291 71 227 20 66 11 1 3 30 16 18 2 1971 MAN AA .331 35 139 21 46 5 1 4 20 5 11 0 1971 SYR AAA .289 12 38 9 11 3 1 1 6 3 5 0 1972 SYR AAA .343 59 207 30 71 12 2 9 35 16 26 1 1972 NYY MLB .298 50 84 9 25 2 1 3 13 11 6 1 Joala is a dead pull hitter who loves the high fastball but can at least foul off pitches that aren't in his wheelhouse. Usually a guy who hits like that has big holes in his swing but that doesn't seem to be the case with him so much. The power hasn't shown up yet but scouts assure us that it will come along. He's about comparable to Weiss as a defensive third baseman which is to say that he probably won't stick at the position and so will have to keep hitting in order to justify a spot on a major league roster. He moonlights as a flute player (I refuse to type "flautist"), singer, and bass player who sings... Soviet rock. Is that a genre? Anyway, whatever he does, he stays out of trouble while he's in the States. Joala's time will surely come at the expense of vets but he sure seems deserving of it. He's hit at every level he's played in. German Ybarra SS No. 6 RR, 5'10" 177 lbs. Born 1947-07-10 in Carolina, PUR Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MAN AA .261 129 456 66 119 18 1 8 67 76 73 4 1970 SYR AAA .154 10 26 2 4 0 0 1 1 6 9 0 1970 NYY MLB .200 6 5 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 1971 NYY MLB .248 137 435 50 108 30 1 5 35 59 89 1 1972 SYR AAA .207 20 58 6 12 7 0 0 5 9 15 0 1972 NYY MLB .180 88 222 18 40 11 1 5 16 30 61 0 Ybarra is a free swinger who in 1971 was able to produce a good deal of power to the gaps. Last year, outfielders moved in on him more and more and he just wasn't able to fool people with those hits as often. His speed on the bases is average at best and he doesn't get out of the box all that quickly. He stayed with the team as long as he did because of plus defense: a 3.5 ZR in 85 starts isn't Gold Glove quality but it's certainly above average. He'll enter into 1973 in the mix for the starting SS job. This feels like it'll be a mostly unfilled position though unless New York gets outside help. Alex Sanchez SS/IF No. 47 RR, 6'1" 201 lbs. Born 1946-07-23 in Citrus Springs, FL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MAN AA .223 91 242 35 54 11 2 7 27 34 47 4 1970 PAW AA .208 22 77 8 16 1 0 2 3 11 9 0 1971 SYR AAA .261 99 226 44 59 15 2 6 47 43 30 1 1971 NYY MLB .190 8 21 1 4 2 0 0 0 0 6 0 1972 SYR AAA .288 39 118 15 34 4 0 6 19 11 19 0 1972 NYY MLB .240 64 167 13 40 10 1 4 17 21 35 0 Sanchez is intriguing but mostly as depth and/or injury insurance. Or, I guess, a trade chip for another team who thinks they can live with the poor D. Vladimir Matorin SS/2B No. 35 RR, 6'0" 188 lbs. Born 1948-04-30 in Moscow, RUS Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 ONE S A .257 67 257 39 66 10 4 8 31 27 62 8 1970 KIN A .240 13 50 7 12 1 0 1 6 3 3 1 1971 FL A .294 36 136 21 40 3 2 2 17 14 21 6 1971 MAN AA .263 92 346 40 91 25 3 3 35 35 51 4 1972 WH AA .300 9 40 5 12 1 1 1 5 2 8 0 1972 SYR AAA .276 99 373 43 103 17 5 9 34 26 64 3 1972 NYY MLB .270 43 148 17 40 3 1 1 14 10 23 0 Outfield Alan Rickman OF/1B No. 25 LL, 6'3" 202 lbs. Born 1946-05-21 in London, ENG Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 SYR AAA .260 128 443 70 115 25 1 18 81 66 145 2 1971 SYR AAA .295 75 254 44 75 23 1 10 60 52 50 0 1971 NYY MLB .272 74 279 40 76 13 0 8 45 25 65 0 1972 SYR AAA .212 79 273 36 58 16 0 13 37 23 82 1 1972 NYY MLB .202 31 104 14 21 6 3 3 8 10 23 0 Rickman projects to have plus tools for both contact and power but showed neither last year in spite of looking good in the 2nd half of 1971. He's got to cut down on the whiffs if he's going to fulfill those expectations - more than 100 Ks between two levels and less than 400 at-bats last season. He's not fast on the bases but covers a decent amount of ground in the outfield, although he's new to the game and has to be told where to stand a lot. Rickman does have one big thing going for him, which is that as a character actor he just spews out all kinds of pure, raw evilness. You could totally see him playing an involuntarily celibate magician or a German terrorist with a comically bad accent. Evil ought to be enough to make your way for the Yankees but somehow it isn't. As OOTP likes to say, "being evil, don't always make you popular". Micah MacMillan CF No. 5 LR, 5'11" 195 lbs. Born 1944-07-01 in Houston, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 NYY MLB .253 137 577 93 146 19 4 14 61 57 96 15 1971 NYY MLB .242 121 521 66 126 24 6 14 56 38 70 8 1972 NYY MLB .193 95 353 33 68 7 0 6 25 33 52 6 Ideally MacMillan is a guy who has good pop for an up-the-middle player and who hits just well enough to get on base at an above average rate. Last year, with the league OBP hovering around .300, MacMillan couldn't even get to that level, OBPing an atrocious .265, the 9th worst OBP in all of baseball for anyone with 350 or more PAs (Chicago SS Chris Morgan "led" with a .237). Everyone ahead of him was a good-field, no-hit guy. 1972 was the kind of season that makes the next one not so much a "make or break" year as a "you broke so try and fix it I guess" one. It's very, very doubtful he'll get another shot in New York. Dave Dornbush OF No. 36 RR, 5'10" 199 lbs. Born 1944-08-02 in Broken Arrow, OK Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 SYR AAA .259 128 424 78 110 26 4 15 64 54 73 31 1971 SYR AAA .239 100 364 66 87 12 3 5 43 59 47 18 1972 SYR AAA .293 86 300 46 88 18 3 14 44 32 53 9 1972 NYY MLB .249 55 197 24 49 11 8 4 25 22 34 2 Jeff Murphy CF No. 19 SL, 5'8" 174 lbs. Born 1943-11-16 in Santa Clarita, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 SYR AAA .278 53 205 42 57 9 5 0 16 21 39 32 1970 NYY MLB .210 21 62 9 13 0 0 3 7 5 6 2 1971 SYR AAA .276 20 76 17 21 5 0 2 12 13 9 7 1971 NYY MLB .300 56 170 22 51 5 1 2 18 8 17 7 1972 SYR AAA .311 57 212 32 66 6 0 7 25 23 23 15 1972 NYY MLB .212 47 156 22 33 6 0 2 15 12 19 10 Ryan Johnston OF No. 17 LL, 5'10" 190 lbs. Born 1942-09-18 in Macedon, NY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 LOU AAA .280 8 25 8 7 3 0 0 6 7 6 1 1970 BOS MLB .224 64 210 32 47 13 2 5 14 44 56 4 1971 CHC MLB .253 110 430 67 109 20 5 12 39 55 99 20 1972 NYY MLB .258 42 128 16 33 9 0 7 19 13 27 3 When he did play, Johnston was OK. I wouldn't necessarily want to stick him in center fill-time anymore, especially now that the knee injury seems to have robbed him of his top-notch speed, but he can do the job in the corners still. He seems like a good match for Yankee Stadium, at least for another year... well I say that looking at his profile but the stats say that he only hit 2 of his 7 HRs at home. Weird. He's a me-first guy who insists on being paid like a borderline All-Star; New York City is one of the few places in the league that can handle that kind of attitude. Johnston may not be ready to play until mid to late April and even after that he probably needs to go on rehab for a couple of weeks, so don't expect him to be around until May at the earliest. The man's still only 30 and I can't think he's washed just yet. Joel Schaben CF No. 30 LR, 5'10" 188 lbs. Born 1937-09-30 in Grosse Pointe Park, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 PHI MLB .274 114 489 71 134 25 7 5 45 35 42 10 1971 WAS MLB .305 127 502 73 153 27 9 6 65 36 31 12 1972 SYR AAA .160 7 25 2 4 1 0 1 1 0 2 0 1972 NYY MLB .183 33 120 10 22 6 0 0 5 10 23 2 Schaben was at one point in his career a really good centerfielder but that was so long ago that JFK was President at the time. At this point he might be useful in a pinch-hitting role but that would mean figuring out what went wrong in 1972. He's smart enough to make adjustments if need be but it feels like the team to give him a shot might not be the Yankees. Phil Hartman RF No. 18 LL, 6'1" 201 lbs. Born 1948-01-18 in Brantford, CAN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 PAW AA .238 6 21 4 5 2 0 1 4 5 2 0 1970 SYR AAA .312 134 478 95 149 41 3 17 95 99 99 1 1971 SYR AAA .340 66 212 45 72 19 0 4 44 81 27 1 1971 NYY MLB .274 82 292 53 80 21 1 10 40 64 64 0 1972 NYY MLB .278 143 514 74 143 29 3 10 50 100 95 0 Hartman does strike out an awful lot but a. that's pretty well in line with his "10 pitch at-bat" strategy, and b. he projects to have the power to back that up. Even with all the Ks, he's still a decent contact guy right now, good enough to hit 2nd or 3rd all season. Hartman's just plain not a guy who is ever going to steal bases. He makes "jokes" about how an unfrozen caveman lawyer is unfamilar with human concepts such as "steals" but they are tinged with truth. The lack of speed also hurts him in the field, where he's only vaguely able to play the outfield. It should be noted that when it comes to breaking up double plays he is a caveman in that regard: second basemen know that even if they get the throw off, there will be a collision. Out of all the positions on the diamond, Hartman's is the surest on this team. He made the All-Star Game this year and there will sure to be more to come.
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02-10-2024, 12:36 PM
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#262 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
81-73, 4th AL East, 13 GB 1972 Outlook: The O's throughout their history were really only competitive for a 2 season stretch from 1964 to 1965 that did include a pennant. In recent yearas they'd slid all the way to 98 losses in '69 and after a couple of .500ish seasons they retooled again and hoped for better. A lot of things would have had to break right but hey, it's happened before, right? 1972 In Review: The O's were strong out of the gate, starting 8-5 and 22-14. As of the end of May they were in 2nd, 3 1/2 games in back of Detroit, who to be fair was lapping the field with a 26-11 record. Then the O's fell off, or at least didn't play as well, going .500 the rest of the way. They didn't really hit rock bottom at any point, they were just .500ish all the way through. 1973 Outlook: Baltimore is in kind of a depressing position: not good enough to really contend, not with 3 high-fliers above them, not so bad that they're going to pick up a superstar in the draft (well, the MLB draft works differently but you know what I mean). They've got some key pieces now but it feels like it's not 95 wins worth of a team and nowadays you need to win 95 to capture the AL East. Well, that being said, they do have half of that club: the front-line pitching is spectacular. The hitting, not so much. Pitching Santos Rodriguez LHP No. 15 LL, 5'12" 182 lbs. Born 1949-04-21 in Bayamón, PUR Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 BAK A 2 3 0 2.83 7 7 3 54.0 49 19 17 11 68 1970 EP AA 5 1 0 2.07 8 8 5 73.2 68 26 17 19 71 1970 ALB AAA 1 0 0 0.99 1 1 1 9.0 5 1 1 4 7 1971 LAD MLB 8 11 0 3.65 32 25 6 187.1 176 92 76 63 126 1972 BAL MLB 16 10 0 2.20 34 34 12 257.1 217 69 63 54 154 Rodriguez is not a guy who will blow fastballs by you: instead, he mixes a high-80s fastball that cuts in on left-handed hitters with a devastating straight change and a couple other pitches he's still working on to generate outs. Even though nothing in his arsenal screams worm-killer, he does keep the ball down well, sporting a 54% groundout rate and 29 double plays, good for 2nd in the AL (Gene Lueders of the Yankees was 1st). His stuff doesn't scream "multiple ERA titles" but he's not a guy you can knock out all at once. Rodriguez also has solid stamina and finished 7th in complete games and 8th in CG percentage. Also, speaking of top 10s, he was 3rd in the AL with 7 shutouts - again, not the kind of thing you'd expect out of a guy with his profile. George Dapson will probably get the Opening Day nod - after all, he wa the 20 game winner - but Rodriguez could surpass him as the staff ace as early as next season. George Dapson RHP No. 23 RR, 6'0" 196 lbs. Born 1945-03-25 in Weston, WV Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 PHI MLB 11 14 0 3.90 35 33 6 237.2 259 117 103 78 138 1971 BAL MLB 11 11 0 3.33 30 30 9 221.0 214 93 82 53 123 1972 BAL MLB 20 9 0 2.93 34 34 8 251.1 197 88 82 88 140 Dapson only struck out 2.2 hitters per 9 innings in 1971, which was the 6th best mark in the AL. It'd be nice to see him return to that but only if he can keep the new ability to strike at least some guys out. He's also thrown 35 wild pitches over the last 3 years, including a league-leading 16 last season. Hey, the change goes where the change wants to go. Barring injury, Dapson's the Orioles' Opening Day starter. It's been a decent journey for the 27 year old but he seems to have put it all together just in time for his prime years. William Hart RHP No. 1 RR, 6'2" 207 lbs. Born 1944-08-23 in Apex, NC Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 TUC AAA 12 9 0 3.21 27 25 11 199.0 212 83 71 55 98 1971 BAL MLB 13 7 0 3.26 27 27 3 187.1 175 77 68 61 73 1972 BAL MLB 13 14 0 3.69 32 32 5 224.0 203 94 92 85 108 Hart will surely return in this same role once again and keep doing it until he's no longer effective. He's also just entering his prime so he should be good to go for a while. T.J. Ziegler RHP No. 27 RR, 6'1" 201 lbs. Born 1946-11-13 in Southgate, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 ROC AAA 2 1 0 1.66 4 4 0 27.0 23 8 5 11 22 1970 BAL MLB 10 13 0 3.08 28 28 4 192.1 141 79 66 110 120 1971 BAL MLB 8 16 0 3.31 33 33 4 222.2 210 95 82 122 115 1972 BAL MLB 12 10 0 2.80 31 31 4 215.0 170 74 67 118 139 Ziegler, 25, probably has the best pure stuff out of anyone in the rotation. The Orioles pride themselves on the change of pace and so of course he throws one but his best pitch is a nasty 2-seam fastball that can hit the mid-90s on a sunny day. He's not blessed with the best stamina in the world, which would be an issue on a team that didn't have Luiso in the pen. Ziegler led the league in groundball rate in 1970 (61%) and finished 3rd in '72 (56%), which is just devastating for hitters given the high quality of Baltimore's infield. He induced 23 "pitchers' best friends" in '72, which was actually down from the 30 and 31 he got in his first two seasons. On the O's, Ziegler is a mid-rotation guy. On a lot of other teams he'd be their ace. If he can get his arm stretched out, he might even be that guy for this team. Montay Luiso LHP No. 22 LL, 5'11" 201 lbs. Born 1937-12-19 in Maracaibo, VEN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 BAL MLB 9 6 27 1.80 73 0 0 114.2 84 25 23 26 98 1971 BAL MLB 11 8 25 3.34 69 0 0 105.0 108 47 39 17 73 1972 BAL MLB 5 6 27 2.46 63 0 0 80.1 66 22 22 21 69 Not really much to say about him! He's the star of the O's staff and at 34 years of age has been for quite some time now. Phil Bowman RHP No. 42 RR, 6'3" 197 lbs. Born 1946-08-22 in Orange, NJ Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 ROC AAA 1 1 0 1.92 3 0 0 4.2 3 1 1 2 7 1970 BAL MLB 3 2 1 2.99 36 0 0 63.0 45 22 21 19 34 1971 BAL MLB 6 3 3 1.17 47 0 0 68.2 49 11 9 24 53 1972 BAL MLB 3 4 4 2.50 43 0 0 61.0 38 17 17 32 46 Bowman's maaaaaybe something of a luxury on this Orioles team but at the same time, should they somehow find all the pieces they need on offense to make a run, he'd be a key part of the bullpen. Tim Reece RHP No. 29 RR, 5'9" 171 lbs. Born 1944-03-04 in Pitman, NJ Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 SLC AAA 1 0 0 1.44 2 2 1 18.2 18 3 3 2 13 1970 SD MLB 10 9 0 3.07 30 25 8 187.1 173 69 64 71 127 1971 BAL MLB 11 12 0 2.77 31 31 9 224.0 192 75 69 73 124 1972 BAL MLB 4 5 0 3.72 24 6 0 70.0 75 35 29 13 38 Even when he's on, Reece is a guy who lives on junk and guile. His fastball might touch 90 on the best of days. He does have decent command of his pitches, although when he does miss it's often over the plate, hence the high ERA. He seems like he's the victim of numbers on this roster; I'm sure he can be a solid mid-rotation guy in many places, although another All-Star game seems a bit much to ask for. Infield Frank Abagnale C No. 25 SR, 6'2" 200 lbs. Born 1948-05-12 in New York, NY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CR A .393 36 135 20 53 12 0 3 23 13 29 0 1970 ARK AA .222 31 117 16 26 7 1 2 11 18 30 0 1971 MID AA .273 6 22 0 6 1 0 0 3 4 6 0 1971 ROC AAA .249 108 389 47 97 32 0 5 37 40 65 0 1971 BAL MLB .306 20 72 11 22 5 0 5 11 5 15 0 1972 BAL MLB .284 109 430 44 122 28 1 10 51 35 79 1 Abagnale struck out a lot last year but he's working on that. Well, he says he is. The players all trust him. I'm not sure I can trust the guy, however. Rumors about that outside of baseball he's a bit of a con artist. Enough about the non-baseball stuff! As a ballplayer he's every bit the 24 year old phenom catcher. The one tool he doesn't have is a good arm: Abagnale threw out only 23.8% of baserunners, the worst mark in the American League among catchers with at least 80 starts (there were 3 guys worse than that in the NL). For a guy who makes you think "catch me if you can" he doesn't actually have a lot of baseball speed. If Abagnale can stay out of jail, he'll be a really bright star in this league, perhaps the second banana at catcher to Texas Josh Lewis for the 1970s. David Delgado C/1B No. 26 RR, 6'1" 192 lbs. Born 1948-01-18 in Santo Domingo, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 DEN AAA .310 116 329 46 102 15 1 5 37 28 47 10 1971 BAL MLB .276 100 348 30 96 18 0 6 38 23 45 0 1972 BAL MLB .290 46 138 8 40 5 0 0 10 15 12 1 Jon Hernandez 1B/C No. 19 LR, 5'10" 196 lbs. Born 1943-04-02 in Maracaibo, VEN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BAL MLB .231 147 532 69 123 32 2 16 78 83 137 1 1971 BAL MLB .261 123 399 44 104 19 1 9 52 53 77 1 1972 BAL MLB .254 127 401 56 102 31 2 13 67 58 101 0 Hernandez doesn't blow you away with the stats but trust me, that's well above average even for a first baseman in this era. He moved around between 2nd and 4th in the order: it may not seem like much but he did in fact lead the team in HRs and RBIs last year. In spite of the (relative) power, Hernandez will go with a pitch, although if pitchers toss him the high heat or anything that comes in looking at high heat, Hernandez finds it hard to lay off the pitch. Don't expect him to go back to catching; he caught 11 games last year and although he did throw out 3 of 8 runners he also had a lot of problems blocking pitches and was lucky to not get charged with a passed ball. His lack of height hurts him at first base and otherwise he's not terribly mobile. Hernandez should be able to slip into this platoony 1B/DH/maybe a teeny tiny bit of catcher if someone is hurt role for the next several years. He's in his prime and he's someone Baltimore can count on, at least against most pitchers in this league. Bill Murray 2B/IF No. 9 LR, 6'1" 177 lbs. Born 1950-09-18 in Evanston, IL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 STC A .329 22 82 21 27 6 2 4 15 18 26 4 1970 MIA A .276 76 257 58 71 5 14 4 35 67 71 7 1970 MID AA .345 36 116 25 40 10 8 4 22 24 28 3 1971 MID AA .272 114 393 64 107 11 10 15 46 78 71 12 1971 ROC AAA .273 26 99 14 27 5 1 2 8 16 24 0 1972 ROC AAA .282 46 174 35 49 5 6 16 40 24 38 1 1972 BAL MLB .251 105 358 48 90 15 8 9 45 55 70 1 Murray hit .251, which is above average but even so you can see from his minor league history that he's capable of a lot more. The scouts agree: he's got good pitch recognition skills and should only get better as he learns AL pitchers. He's also got OK speed, although the triples totals are misleading - he loved stretching doubles in the low minors and got caught out a lot too. As a fielder he's definitely a second baseman, although he did find time at the other 2 "main" infield positions last season. He doesn't really have the arm for 3rd or short and 3rd also means he doesn't get to use his best skill, which is navigating the pivot on double plays. Murray could very, very easily be the Orioles' 2nd baseman of the 70s and hold that spot well into the 80s. Only time will tell. He works hard and gets results. Alex Perez 2B No. 30 RR, 6'3" 203 lbs. Born 1944-06-07 in San Francisco de Macorís, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 TOL AAA .292 101 312 46 91 27 3 1 36 27 58 16 1971 TOL AAA .285 97 379 51 108 19 5 1 26 25 51 12 1971 DET MLB .214 6 14 3 3 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 1972 BAL MLB .214 34 112 11 24 3 1 0 4 8 16 5 Perez is a 28 year old now who is still (I think?) technically a rookie. Scouts think he could be a league-average starter but if he stays with ths O's it'll be due to versatility: Perez has also played at first, left, and right field in the minor leagues. He has legitimate speed and could also see time as a pinch-runner. At this point the biggest argument against trading him is that the O's probably won't get much of any value for him. Vladimir Yakunin 2B No. 32 RR, 6'1" 181 lbs. Born 1948-06-30 in Melenki, RUS Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MID AA .284 73 299 45 85 19 9 0 32 29 48 3 1971 ROC AAA .258 107 275 29 71 10 0 2 26 37 33 1 1972 ROC AAA .367 51 60 12 22 2 1 1 9 5 8 1 1972 BAL MLB .286 30 91 9 26 4 2 0 7 10 11 1 Yakunin is... OK. He's probably not going to be a multi-year starter in this league but he can fill in at second if you need him. He's a two-tool player: contact and speed. You'd really, really prefer for a young guy to play more than he did but again, AI minor league managers will not listen (and I'll be honest, I'm not interested in doing that much micro for a C-level prospect). If you decided to start him he'd be a good #2 hitter: he does have a tendency to try and pull anything in the bottom half of the strike zone but otherwise he hits for contact, can bunt, and has 55-grade speed. He lacks the good instincts a quality middle infielder has, although he works hard to get where he is. Eventually you'd expect him to switch out to a corner OF spot if he stayed in this league, although to do so he'd have to take some big steps forward as a hitter. I don't see the O's getting anything back for Yakunin either so chances are he'll stick with the team for the near to medium future. Maybe he can be a throw-in, I don't know. Marco Perez 3B No. 31 RR, 6'0" 187 lbs. Born 1944-09-09 in Santo Domingo, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BAL MLB .337 154 597 73 201 24 7 17 91 71 41 36 1971 BAL MLB .258 101 388 48 100 18 2 12 33 45 51 21 1972 BAL MLB .256 121 446 71 114 21 3 9 48 64 59 18 Since he missed all that time and since 1972 was, again, a terrible year for offense, the numbers don't really look all that great. But Perez is still a player: he walked more than he struck out for the 3rd time in his 8 year career, he's got good power for a 3rd baseman, and surely a lot of the hits will come back once the league undoes whatever it did with the ball last year. Somehow, thanks in part to his speed out of the box, Perez only hit into 6 GIDPs last year. He actually does still have world-class, leadoff hitter speed, although the O's are not a team that likes to run and on top of that every time Perez steals a base the entire stadium holds their breath because he's such an injury risk. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Perez wins his 5th Gold Glove in 1972 - he only didn't win last year because he missed too much time. That said, he's no longer the Brooks Robinson (who?) style first-class defender he was in his early 20s. The back injuries have robbed him of some of his range in the field and when the back is hurting him it affects his throwing motion and as such his arm, which is normally his best asset, can be a little scattershot on throws to first base. You'd love to see Perez play 150 or more games again. I'd say it's possible with the DH rule in effect but Perez is still one of the premier 3rd basemen in the league and it's hard to just take the glove out of his hand. Jon Blevins SS No. 12 RR, 6'0" 199 lbs. Born 1941-05-11 in Rochester Hills, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BAL MLB .231 151 575 54 133 14 5 7 39 43 94 5 1971 BAL MLB .252 143 440 43 111 18 3 5 43 40 85 5 1972 BAL MLB .240 129 391 26 94 16 1 5 47 31 63 4 Blevins has seen his PAs drop as the team is less and less enthused with his bat and eventually he'll probably give the job up. He is a good fielder but not Mark Belanger (who?). For 1973 at least the job's still his. Outfield Sergio Viera de Mello OF/lB No. 20 RR, 5'11" 180 lbs. Born 1947-07-16 in Rio de Janeiro, BRA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MIA A .287 60 216 25 62 7 3 2 21 11 23 12 1971 ROC AAA .327 81 278 44 91 13 1 2 28 19 11 1 1971 BAL MLB .298 28 114 8 34 3 2 0 4 1 9 2 1972 BAL MLB .272 112 397 41 108 11 7 4 46 17 26 5 Viera de Mello is a classic "tweener" - not rangey enough to play a harder defensive position, not a good enough hitter to carry a more offensively oriented position. Even as a 25 year old his future role screams "backup" at me. Jason Workman OF/1B No. 2 LL, 6'4" 202 lbs. Born 1937-03-28 in Dublin, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CHC MLB .312 150 581 98 181 26 3 44 135 29 37 0 1971 CHC MLB .248 147 565 75 140 18 1 26 84 38 57 0 1972 CHC MLB .264 65 235 25 62 6 0 9 30 10 30 0 1972 BAL MLB .245 40 155 19 38 2 0 8 22 2 18 0 For such a power guy, Workman is a a very good bad-ball hitter. When things are going well he'll turn pitches that are out of the strike zone into base hits. Too often the last couple years those have just turned into easy outs. You're not going to be able to teach a 35 year old dog new tricks though so accept what it is. Workman has never been much of a fielder in his career and if the O's had anything at all better in left field - who knows, maybe they'll come up with something - he'd be the easy, easy choice to DH for this team. That loss of power is very disconcerting. Workman's at an age where major skills he counted on during his prime can just go like that. I just snapped my fingers in case you couldn't see. Given the major holes in this lineup, not to mention what Workman has clearly shown that he's capable of in the past 3 years, he'll still get a pretty long leash in 1973. Matt Nugent OF No. 35 LL, 6'1" 186 lbs. Born 1946-07-06 in Herndon, VA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BAL MLB .207 132 445 54 92 14 3 13 45 62 99 23 1971 BAL MLB .231 148 594 78 137 19 6 17 61 67 109 34 1972 BAL MLB .209 112 402 43 84 14 4 8 32 44 85 27 The statline might look like the Nuge got hurt last year but nope, not really: what actually happened was that he was hitting .227/6/17 as of June 6 and the team just got tired of both the subpar hitting and the poor play in center. Nugent is badly miscast in the leadoff slot for a team as Earl Weaver-y (who?) as Baltimore tries to be, although it's easy to see why you'd want to use him there what with all that speed. It looks like he did himself a real disservice by hitting a combined 30 HRs in his first 2 full years in the big leagues, as he's decided he's a power hitter now with the big, ugly swings to match. I've added Nugent to the trade block; he's surely still a solid choice for someone as a starter, just not with Baltimore. Frank Beard OF No. 3 RR, 6'1" 179 lbs. Born 1949-06-17 in Aurora, OH Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 ABD S A .312 74 298 78 93 15 2 13 61 53 50 9 1970 STC A .259 34 139 25 36 4 0 3 15 16 50 6 1971 MIA A .196 25 92 10 18 4 2 1 16 12 21 7 1971 MID AA .287 75 275 40 79 12 7 9 38 37 53 7 1971 ROC AAA .283 44 166 24 47 9 3 0 11 20 24 7 1972 ROC AAA .378 46 188 38 71 10 0 11 32 17 36 7 1972 BAL MLB .248 76 274 38 68 11 1 6 21 41 52 8 When he did play he was OK. He struck out a lot more last year than he had in the past. Hopefully that's just growing pains and learning the league. If he gets the Ks down you could see him hitting .280 or so. He doesn't have blazing speed but it's good enough and unlike Nugent it does translate into range afield. At this point he's the choice for Opening Day Orioles CF but it won't be clear-cut... see the next guy... Mike Nichols OF No. 17 RR, 6'3" 203 lbs. Born 1946-12-19 in Amarillo, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 STC A .332 68 265 44 88 12 3 6 29 20 57 8 1970 MIA A .349 26 83 16 29 1 2 0 13 8 19 5 1971 ROC AAA .256 75 273 27 70 10 2 1 16 19 36 2 1971 BAL MLB .241 13 29 1 7 0 1 0 1 1 8 0 1972 BAL MLB .300 72 160 17 48 12 2 0 18 6 27 2 T.J. Corron RF No. 10 RR, 6'1" 199 lbs. Born 1945-10-17 in Magna, UT Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MID AA .260 89 350 42 91 17 1 2 29 48 44 10 1970 ROC AAA .208 35 130 14 27 5 0 0 8 11 21 10 1971 BAL MLB .292 105 226 27 66 9 2 5 37 20 29 3 1972 BAL MLB .246 126 443 45 109 18 1 4 46 54 56 4 Corron's a good right fielder with a nice arm and for that reason you can't completely cross him off. That and the prospects of his hitting .290 again. Ralph May OF No. 13 LL, 6'3" 202 lbs. Born 1947-11-11 in San Bernardino, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 STC A .384 29 99 28 38 8 1 9 20 29 22 0 1970 MIA A .253 85 249 38 63 11 1 5 38 73 48 1 1971 ROC AAA .285 37 123 22 35 6 1 3 14 29 24 0 1971 BAL MLB .279 81 272 39 76 20 2 13 43 35 53 0 1972 ROC AAA .259 42 139 24 36 11 0 11 25 16 35 2 1972 BAL MLB .230 60 148 20 34 6 0 7 17 16 27 0 May never made the prospect lists athat Corron did and even though he was drafted several years before - he came into the Orioles' system out of high school in 1965 - May has sat in Corron's shadow since the latter player joined the organization. Maybe this year is the year Corron has to start seeing May as the #1 man.
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02-10-2024, 12:44 PM
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All Star Reserve
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Syd, do you ever think of doing a MLB Network-style preseason “Top 10 at (Position) Right Now” special?
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Hall Of Famer
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02-12-2024, 10:45 AM
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Hall Of Famer
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Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
87-69, 3rd AL East, 8 GB 1972 Outlook: After 2 straight 90+ win seasons, Cleveland crashed to earth in 1971, finishing 72-90, their worst record since 1964. The team's ERA ballooned and outside of a monster year by Ernesto Garcia very little went right for them. Because, look, this is the 70s, they still went into '72 thinking they could get the magic back. They didn't rebuild so much as retool, going so far at one point to trade Tommy Pron to the Rangers in December and then take him back right before the strike when they couldn't get their left field situation secured without him. 1972 In Review: And things really didn't go that poorly. The '72 Indians were a little like the 2001 Giants with Barry Bonds (who?), sitting on the backs of a guy having a singular season to lead the entire AL in offense and having pitching that wasn't great (15th in the MLB in ERA) but not bad. If it wasn't for the fact that the Tigers just decided to put everything together this year, they might have had a chance. 1973 Outlook: So... what do you do now? Attendance was down throughout baseball thanks to the strike and Cleveland might have been hurt the worst (the owner is demanding attendance go up from 18.391 - welp, we averaged 16,274). It seems unfathomable that a baseball team could be losing money but... there are whispers. And along with those there are whispers that payroll might be cut. Pitching Jose Martinez RHP No. 2 RR, 6'6" 200 lbs. Born 1945-01-24 in Valera, VEN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 WIC AAA 5 5 0 2.54 17 17 2 95.2 60 30 27 19 154 1970 CLE MLB 1 1 0 2.56 8 7 1 38.2 31 12 11 10 52 1971 CLE MLB 5 5 0 3.53 25 16 1 124.2 129 58 49 29 97 1972 CLE MLB 22 7 0 2.36 31 31 14 240.0 178 72 63 53 220 Martinez throws heat. If there's any starting pitcher in the American League who throws harder, I'd like to see him. His fastball has been clocked in the upper 90s at times. He also throws a really nasty slider and, that rarest of pitches, the screwball - as a result of the latter pitch in fact he dominated lefties (.187 BA) harder than righties (.222) even though the majority of his batters faced came from the left side last year. Look for teams to stock up on righties against him in the coming seasons. This is all a big, big improvement from a guy who was basically a spot starter in 1971. The biggest issue was that he was able to stay healthy all year long; Martinez was at one point the #4 prospect in all of baseball (in 1965) but has been ha,mbered ever since with arm issues, the worst of which being a torn elbow ligament that made him miss half of 1967 and then most of 1968 and then, almost the moment he got back, a torn flexor tendon in that same elbow that forced him to miss the rest of '68 plus a big chunk of '69. He's healthy now and to the extent the Indians can count on that, he's one of the top starters in baseball. Robert Rivera LHP No. 7 LL, 6'1" 202 lbs. Born 1939-10-12 in Santo Domingo, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 SF MLB 12 19 0 3.37 35 35 14 267.0 255 114 100 45 192 1971 SF MLB 14 15 0 2.91 32 32 14 246.2 223 86 80 43 173 1972 CLE MLB 12 10 0 3.22 31 31 6 234.1 227 90 84 67 162 Rivera's big thing is keeping the ball down while still making hitters miss his offerings. He throws a 2-seam fastball that stretches only into the mid 80s but that plus a nice looking forkball do a good job. He's even known to rear back every now and then and throw a 4-seamer which can occasionally peg 88 or 89 MPH. This might as well be 100 when it's thrown in conjunction with everything else he has. Rivera also helps himself out a ton by preventing steals when runners do get on, mostly on singles, with an excellent pickoff move. Sure, he's a lefty, but there ain't that many lefties who've held runners to 17 steals and 20 caught stealings over the past 4 years. If it wasn't for Hernandez I'd still call Rivera a #1, 12-10 record or no 12-10 record. He does get paid like a #1 which, if those finances are real, could be an issue... Dylan Hamilton RHP No. 16 RR, 6'3" 199 lbs. Born 1943-06-04 in Panama City, FL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 CLE MLB 17 15 0 3.84 37 36 10 260.0 249 126 111 91 150 1971 CLE MLB 10 13 0 4.20 32 32 8 222.1 241 116 104 83 105 1972 CLE MLB 13 16 0 3.64 32 32 9 224.2 230 99 91 63 133 Kindberg has what is basically his 3rd straight year as a mid-rotation innings guy. He's never had the kind of nasty stuff that a Jose Hernandez has and, credit where it's due, he's learned to work the corners well since joining the Tribe. At that, the 133 Ks was the 2nd highest total of his career to date and he coupled that with a 3-year low in HRs allowed (18) and a career-low walk rate (2.5). He even managed to rein in that occasionally sloppy curve of his: with the Red Sox Hamilton led the league in wild pitches twice and approached that again last year with 12 of them - happily he cut that down to just 4. Hamilton doesn't make a ton of money but, again, if the rumors are true it would be easy to see them ship him off for prospects. He's in his prime and could help a team in contention - the Indians, in fact, if they get a sudden infusion of cash. Robbie Coltrane RHP No. 21 RR, 6'5" 202 lbs. Born 1950-05-30 in Glasgow, SCO Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 CHA A 3 3 0 5.40 8 8 3 50.0 55 32 30 22 33 1970 REN A 1 0 0 4.50 2 2 1 16.0 19 8 8 3 14 1970 SAV AA 4 2 0 3.98 9 9 4 61.0 72 29 27 21 43 1971 JAX AA 2 1 0 1.28 3 3 3 28.0 27 4 4 3 18 1971 WIC AAA 12 10 0 2.24 22 22 19 192.1 145 63 48 57 101 1971 CLE MLB 5 3 0 3.33 8 8 2 56.2 60 29 21 14 34 1972 CLE MLB 10 10 0 3.71 28 28 9 208.1 208 92 86 39 140 For now he's the #4 man in the rotation, which, at 22, is enough. Jake Duckett LHP No. 4 LL, 5'9" 166 lbs. Born 1945-04-18 in Castle Hills, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 IOW AAA 5 1 6 1.56 20 0 0 28.2 19 5 5 20 40 1970 OAK MLB 3 0 0 1.43 27 0 0 31.1 20 5 5 13 39 1971 OAK MLB 1 1 3 1.19 11 0 0 15.0 9 2 2 8 11 1971 WAS MLB 4 6 15 3.30 47 0 0 65.1 63 26 24 34 46 1972 CLE MLB 10 4 22 2.94 59 0 0 67.1 53 22 22 33 61 Duckett has that Kaz Sasaki (who?) sinker/splitter mix. Both pitches come in looking almost exactly the same except that one hits the lower part of the strike zone while the other one dips out of it. This allowed him to strike out more than 10 men per inning in seperate stints with the A's and, happilly, that stuff came back in Cleveland. When hitters do lay off, they can get walks but hitters aren't able to lay off all that much, With all the strikeouts and groundballs he gets, Duckett is the perfect man to bring in with runners on base in tense situations. He's also not being paid a massive amount, which is good for his future in Cleveland. If he can be paired with a strong righty, he could easily be one of the best relievers in the league, if he's not already. Gerardo Herrera LHP No. 23 LL, 6'0" 181 lbs. Born 1945-04-14 in Boca Chica, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 SAV AA 7 5 0 2.90 14 14 9 108.1 103 40 35 32 76 1970 WIC AAA 13 3 0 1.34 18 18 7 140.1 89 28 21 45 124 1971 WIC AAA 10 8 0 2.78 23 23 3 168.0 129 65 52 103 74 1971 CLE MLB 2 2 0 5.40 18 0 0 26.2 32 16 16 20 20 1972 CLE MLB 5 0 0 3.53 45 4 0 63.2 59 25 25 38 36 Last year he was used as a lefty specialist and occasional spot starter: he was really good in the former role (2.72 ERA and 23 Ks vs 20 BBs in 39.2 IP) but terrible as a starter (1-0, 4.88 in 4 starts, 18 BBs in 24 IP). This isn't the role you want a top-20 prospect to fill for you so it's understandable that Cleveland has tried to "promote" him. The lefty one-out guy role might be his best place. Elias Sanchez RHP No. 12 RR, 6'2" 200 lbs. Born 1938-05-08 in Greenacres, FL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 CHW MLB 1 0 0 2.73 17 0 0 23.0 18 7 7 10 9 1970 CLE MLB 0 2 5 2.54 25 0 0 35.1 29 10 10 13 21 1971 CLE MLB 6 6 4 2.84 50 0 0 72.2 68 27 23 23 27 1972 CLE MLB 1 3 3 2.93 42 0 0 58.1 54 19 19 16 25 Why not make this man a co-closer with Duckett? Why not indeed. William Hernandez RHP No. 28 RR, 6'2" 198 lbs. Born 1947-10-02 in Santa Cruz, ARG Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 SAV AA 1 1 0 5.40 4 4 1 21.2 36 15 13 7 9 1971 JAX AA 3 1 0 0.94 4 4 4 38.0 27 4 4 12 19 1971 WIC AAA 12 4 0 2.57 24 24 0 167.2 133 54 48 85 48 1971 CLE MLB 1 0 0 2.99 2 2 1 15.0 14 5 5 8 5 1972 CLE MLB 6 6 0 4.15 24 16 2 123.1 113 59 57 56 52 Hernandez does tend to miss wide instead of high when he misses his spots, which is a saving grace for a heavy HR park like Cleveland Municipal Stadium is. He could very easily find himself as a regular in the rotation this season, although as noted he's going to need to progress as a pitcher in order to stick. If he can't, I do see three other AAAA types in the Indians' organization - Chris Becker (10-10, 2.60 at AAA Wichita), Cecil Dodge (11-9, 2.13), and Pedro Torres (5-4, 1.90) waiting in the wings. Infield Ray Varner[/size] C No. 3 LR, 5'10" 201 lbs. Born 1943-01-01 in Fort Frances, CAN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 SAV AA .282 46 142 15 40 9 0 3 22 6 22 0 1970 WIC AAA .188 10 16 2 3 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 1971 JAX AA .279 24 68 5 19 3 0 1 6 4 12 0 1971 WIC AAA .281 13 32 2 9 0 0 0 2 2 8 0 1971 CLE MLB .125 7 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1972 CLE MLB .233 116 322 32 75 10 2 8 33 28 45 0 Varner's 29 now. Maybe he should have gotten a chance earlier in his career, although up until 1971 he was fighting just to stay up at the AAA level. He's also got a good rep for being a smart, heads-up player who knows what pitch to call in the right situation. He seems to have evened that out and even if he's not destined to have a long career as a starter, this kind of player can play a long, long time. Joe Wolfe C No. 14 RR, 5'11" 201 lbs. Born 1945-08-23 in Coral Springs, FL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 SAV AA .273 45 161 23 44 8 0 3 19 27 22 0 1970 WIC AAA .203 48 148 17 30 9 1 1 15 22 33 0 1971 WIC AAA .301 26 83 8 25 2 0 1 11 5 8 0 1971 CLE MLB .241 98 270 31 65 10 0 3 30 45 43 0 1972 CLE MLB .246 88 199 20 49 5 0 3 18 30 31 0 Wolfe doesn't have Varner's rep for the arm but produced slightly more caught stealings with a 29.3% rate. He's very nimble behind the plate in spite of a lack of foot speed. Offensively he was a little bit above average last year; even taking away the 7 times he was intentionally walked to face the pitcher, Wolfe gets on base well. Ideally you manage his at-bats to keep the strikeouts low, although when a guy like this has reverse splits it makes it harder. He did get used 13 times as a pinch-hitter with just 1 base hit: with all but one of those coming against RHPs that may have contributed to things. We should see something like an open competition come spring training, and if what we get out of that is some kind of a 50/50 semi-platoon setup, that should be OK. Ernesto Garcia 1B No. 65 LL, 5'9" 185 lbs. Born 1944-01-01 in Puerto Plata, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .213 81 301 50 64 6 0 33 79 29 59 0 1971 CLE MLB .270 156 627 105 169 30 0 65 147 44 119 1 1972 CLE MLB .296 147 561 117 166 22 1 68 166 65 77 0 Garcia has hit 133 HRs in 2 years and would probably have a 3rd 60 HR season under his belt in 1970 if he hadn't had missed the second half of 1970 with a ruptured MCL in his right knee. He'd never been all that fast before; after the knee surgery he's possibly the slowest man in the league. Yeah, and he doesn't walk a lot and as a first baseman his primary position looks like "DH". So what? The man can hit the ball out of any park. He's even cut down on his Ks, somehow, which allowed him to drive in 166 men, the 2nd highest total in baseball history to Justin Stone's 169 in 1964. Had the strike not happened, that would be one more record Garcia owns. Should the Indians actually go through with trading him, I wish them nothing but the worst. THE WORST Sadegh Zibakalam 2B No. 8 LR, 6'0" 183 lbs. Born 1948-06-12 in Tehran, IRA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 NEW S A .256 53 199 33 51 9 2 11 41 22 34 11 1970 CLI A .234 49 188 25 44 6 2 3 26 22 43 1 1971 ORL A .325 20 77 10 25 3 2 1 11 6 12 3 1971 CHL AA .239 78 255 30 61 7 1 6 20 31 44 9 1972 REN A .339 42 174 32 59 11 2 5 32 24 22 3 1972 POR AAA .212 17 33 6 7 1 1 3 9 7 3 1 1972 CLE MLB .285 63 200 18 57 13 3 2 31 18 41 2 Zibakalam has only really ever hit for power at one level - short-season A ball in 1970 - but he insists that he's a power hitter and so tends to try to pull everything and swing at the high ones. He has shown an ability to go the other way with the high outside fastball at least. He showed some impressive gap power which, I guess, could develop into HR power potentially, but probably never enough to make up for the huge cuts Zibakalam sometimes takes at the plate. He's a good second baseman who lacks the arm to play on the right side of the infield but who's fearless on the pivot. His speed is a plus and he gets out of the box quickly. It's very possible that Zibakalam will be handed the 2B job just because of the expected youth movement. Is he ready? The half-season says yes; the fact that he had all 33 of his AAA at-bats of his career last year says maybe not yet. T.J. Pritchett 2B/1B No. 18 RR, 5'11" 186 lbs. Born 1936-09-13 in Lynnwood, WA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .257 148 487 64 125 15 0 18 64 100 79 3 1971 CLE MLB .228 132 430 53 98 13 3 10 42 75 78 0 1972 CLE MLB .266 52 158 25 42 4 1 6 19 28 22 2 Part of the reason why Pritchett is so underrated is that so much of his ability comnes from his ability to draw walks. I could compare him to Joe Morgan (who?) but frankly he's more like a Max Bishop (who?) or Eddie Stanky (who?), a man with middling skills outside of the ability to walk but the walk "tool" is off the charts. The most similar player according to the game is a guy named Sean Champion, who played for the White Sox in the 50s and 60s and finished with a .317 OBP. Which is to say... nobody is all that similar to Pritchett. Pritchett is a 2-time former Gold Glover but at 36 it does have to be said that his best days in the field are behind him. If the worst future timeline comes to pass, perhaps he can switch on over to 1st base. Even if Garcia sticks around, he is 2 inches taller than the diminutive superstar. Luis Oropeza 2B No. 26 LR, 5'8" 147 lbs. Born 1946-05-08 in Hutchinson, KS Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 SAV AA .278 71 245 42 68 11 5 12 52 28 49 0 1970 WIC AAA .278 50 169 24 47 8 0 5 15 34 41 9 1971 WIC AAA .308 110 308 45 95 17 2 16 61 56 39 2 1971 CLE MLB .300 15 40 5 12 2 0 1 4 2 10 0 1972 CLE MLB .200 59 170 19 34 4 0 8 21 11 32 0 Oropeza really needs to hit in order to play, as he doesn't move to his left well and isn't on the ball when it comes to positioning himself vs. different hitters. Word in the clubhouse was that he cozied up to Ernesto Garcia and, like the slugger, often showed up to BP and fielding practice late. Perhaps one small positive side effect of trading Garcia, then, will be to deprive Oropeza of that excuse. He's shown signs of being a good basestealer in the past but with 578 major league at-bats under his belt and not even a single steal attempt, it's clear that he's gotten slower as his body has filled out. A guy like Oropeza really shouldn't see extra time, not without proving himself again in the minor leagues. He might just get it anyway. Bobby Ramirez 3B No. 27 LR, 5'12" 186 lbs. Born 1947-11-27 in Santiago, PAN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 WIC AAA .336 126 449 81 151 32 7 14 69 73 38 51 1970 POR AAA .133 4 15 1 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1970 CLE MLB .200 12 20 4 4 2 1 0 6 3 4 0 1971 CLE MLB .344 142 515 84 177 20 10 15 67 66 54 32 1972 CLE MLB .241 132 435 62 105 10 9 13 56 52 47 27 When his back isn't bothering him, Ramirez is fast and hits for good contact, the ideal combination for a would-be batting champ. Last year he was hitting an awful lot of "atom" balls early in the year but otherwise that line drive stroke that had led him to 53 extra-base hits in the minors in 1970 and 45 in '71 was largely missing and Ramirez was left, too often, to beating out infield hits and getting on with tricklers into the outfield. If a pitcher misses high, inside or out, Ramirez was still able to lift one out of the park. He's not the world's greatest third baseman and probably will need to move to first or an outfield corner in a few years. The speed on the other hand is real and very much there. Cleveland's got to hope he'll refind that line drive stroke. Ramirez is only 24 and, unlike so many guys on this team, not averse to taking extra practice, so it should happen. Roberto Hernandez 3B No. 24 RR, 5'11" 199 lbs. Born 1942-04-19 in Santo Domingo, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .263 152 616 68 162 28 3 15 66 15 50 0 1971 CLE MLB .252 63 127 13 32 6 1 4 25 7 17 0 1972 CLE MLB .319 82 207 21 66 10 1 2 28 6 17 0 Ramirez is no slouch himself, having hit .294 with 17 HRs and 79 RBIs in 1969. He's lost a good deal of that power in his prime but still has that slugger's attitude. Last year it worked well for him because he can still get to most everything that comes over the plate (and often not) even when he tries to pull it. He doesn't have anything like Ramirez' speed - in fact, it's below average - and so all that contact can also result in a lot of 6-4-3 double plays (in fact, he hit into 28 of them in 1970, his last year as a starter). He's a better fielder than Ramirez with a nice arm but he still has problems moving to his left and his lack of speed means he wouldn't be as versatile should he be forced to move off the bag: indeed, the Indians didn't even try him at second, let alone short, last year when they were hurting at those positions. Hernandez' career seems destined to continue outside of Cleveland. He showed in 1972 that he's still a feared contact hitter and a great choice as a right-handed pinch-hitter should an NL team come calling. John Johnson SS/2B No. 13 RR, 6'3" 201 lbs. Born 1944-10-08 in Indianapolis, IN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .340 152 673 115 229 33 9 7 60 25 34 18 1971 CLE MLB .233 96 382 43 89 17 4 3 21 19 35 6 1972 CLE MLB .219 105 302 23 66 13 1 1 18 14 27 6 Johnson was always a pretty one-dimensional hitter even when he was getting the job done at the top of the Indians' order. He has no power - look, he's a shortstop, give him a break - and he swings at pretty much everything. He also makes contact with pretty much everything but at that, he used to have gap power at least and now that seems to have flown the coop. Worst of all, his speed, as alluded to above, now only grades as a tick above average and he doesn't even get out of the box all that quickly anymore. His fielding is solid and he could fill in throughout the infield if he was trained up to that but he's got to get over being a starter first and that seems unlikely to happen in Cleveland. Johnson's also getting paid like an All-Star which alone gets him on the chopping block for this team. That and the emergence of one Mitt Romney... Mitt Romney SS/IF No. 20 RR, 6'2" 201 lbs. Born 1947-10-06 in Detroit, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 WAT S A .243 20 70 11 17 2 0 2 10 5 11 0 1970 WPB A .263 92 327 39 86 11 1 2 36 39 71 7 1970 JAX AA .200 15 45 4 9 3 0 0 5 5 8 0 1971 JAX AA .232 104 357 28 83 18 2 6 36 30 70 1 1971 CLE MLB .263 48 160 20 42 5 2 3 19 17 27 2 1972 CLE MLB .206 101 277 33 57 12 0 6 32 23 40 1 Romney's bat doesn't come with the promise that Johnson's does, not at all. He's a streaky hitter who is prone to slumps, especially when he finds he can't get around on the high fastballl. His 6 HRs last year tie a professional-career high so perhaps he needs to change his stroke but you know how it is with leopards and their spots and binders full of women and all that. He's a decent if not fantastic bunter and had 9 sacrifices last year. He's also got that versatility in him and unlike Johnson has actually gotten the training at other positions. The big bottom line is that Romney makes less than Johnson - a lot less. Is he really a better player overall? Probably not but Cleveland seems destined to make these decisions outside of playing ability. Outfield Tommy Pron LF/RF No. 37 LR, 6'1" 203 lbs. Born 1942-08-02 in Long Beach, NY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .330 133 509 63 168 35 0 8 70 63 37 0 1971 CLE MLB .273 136 494 51 135 13 1 9 48 65 52 0 1972 CLE MLB .326 141 506 77 165 18 1 16 58 73 51 0 Pron is a professional hitter. Like several Indians players he seems like he's lost a bit of gap power recently (is there something with the park?) but in his case he replaced it with 16 HRs worth of power, the 2nd highest total of his career (he hit 19 in 1969 when he also lead the AL in RBIs with 101). Pron hit 2nd for much of the season so didn't get as many RBI opportunities as he's received in the past; however, he did finish 7th in runs scored. Pron will take a pitch wherever it might take him and enjoys showing the younger guys how it's done. His leadership in the locker room was sorely missed even during spring training and it was nice to have him back. He's got a gun for an arm in the outfield but otherwise his poor speed means he's usually a step behind hard-hit balls to his area. One nice thing about Pron is, he's not too big for his britches and isn't pulling in the kind of $150k+ salary (or so we're told! That info is confidential!) that makes a cash-strapped team like Cleveland want to move him along (oh look at us, now we're talking like we believe this rot). As such, traded last year or not, Pron could easily wind up being one of the guys left standing when the dust settles. Bobby Kaplan CF No. 22 RR, 5'12" 189 lbs. Born 1946-11-18 in Lexington, KY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 WIC AAA .287 108 435 49 125 19 5 0 29 25 58 22 1970 CLE MLB .429 4 14 0 6 2 0 0 2 3 1 0 1971 WAS MLB .303 137 512 61 155 21 2 2 55 37 60 10 1972 CLE MLB .274 131 551 68 151 23 6 4 41 33 68 16 Kaplan is a singles hitter whose value looks muted by the poor league averasge last year. He finished 4th on the team in runs scored behind the big boppers and in spite of not really walking all that much he got on base at a .319 clip, above the league average of .301. Kaplan has plus speed that he uses well in the field to catch up to line drives in the gap. He won fielding hardware in the minor leagues - the AAA Gold Glove in 1969 - for this range. On a team where merely being on time to practice would make you one of the first people there, Kaplan is usually early. For a guy who's been in 3 organizations in 5 years, the current one absolutely loves him. To them, he's a real lunchpail guy who deserves all the gritty at-bats he can get. Eric Weyenberg OF No. 11 LL, 5'12" 175 lbs. Born 1948-04-30 in Little Rock, AR Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MOB AA .263 51 194 24 51 2 4 0 15 26 20 11 1970 TUC AAA .372 32 129 22 48 9 3 0 18 10 6 15 1970 CHW MLB .227 56 203 31 46 8 2 0 8 27 30 9 1971 CHW MLB .262 89 294 29 77 10 1 4 30 33 30 14 1972 TUC AAA .385 9 26 5 10 1 1 1 2 2 2 0 1972 CLE MLB .226 60 137 15 31 5 1 1 11 10 12 9 Weyenberg has speed that doesn't translate into good defense in center, although he's one of the best fielding corner OFers on the team. He doesn't have the bat for those spots even when he's hitting in the .260s. He's 24 and is at best an adequate, replacement-level guy if someone gets hurt. Jorge Sanchez OF No. 5 RR, 5'11" 190 lbs. Born 1942-11-27 in Carolina, PUR Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .246 45 130 15 32 2 1 3 16 6 30 6 1971 WIC AAA .385 4 13 1 5 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 1971 CLE MLB .245 35 110 15 27 2 2 0 12 8 13 6 1972 CLE MLB .269 48 130 19 35 1 1 3 13 9 21 10 Nelson Vargas RF No. 50 RL, 6'4" 197 lbs. Born 1943-02-16 in Tampa, FL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CAL MLB .312 148 586 94 183 26 11 12 81 56 63 22 1971 CAL MLB .249 108 410 49 102 16 9 5 31 36 56 7 1972 CLE MLB .290 139 552 88 160 17 1 14 54 52 70 11 Vargas rebounded nicely from a down year in California. Coming into a park that isn't really such a great park for singles' hitters - the Mistake on the Lake is a HR park and pretty much nothing else - he did hit a career high 14 HRs but the singles still kept coming. Vargas gets a lot of line drives and groundballs off of his bat and he's got good speed out of the box that forces fielders to make plays on him. He's also stolen as many as 22 bases, although that came with 16 caught stealings that season. I'd point to the weird drop in triples but frankly Cleveland Municipal is a place where triples, um, go to die. He's a solid outfielder. All this adds up to an All-Star level right fielder. Sorry, Cleveland brass, but if you move this guy, you're going to have egg all over your face.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
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Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
87-68, 2nd AL East, 7 1/2 GB 1972 Outlook: There is no curse in this save! Well there wasn't one anyway since the Sox won in 1948. But there's double no curse, as they won 102 games and the entire World Series enchilada. And let's be honest here: this team was largely the same from one year to the next so things were looking really, really good. If anything the Sox could expect a bounceback offensive season from Oniji Handa. 1972 In Review: Instead, they fell off. At least, the offense did. The pitching, especially the front-line starters, was as good as it every was in 1971. The offense struggled, finishing only 5th in the AL in runs scored and 7th in HRs. They were "only" 20-14 to start the season but that alone got them 2 1/2 games behind the Tigers as of the end of May and then a really and truly bad June (12-15) got them 5 1/2 back, a deficit they'd never recover from. 1973 Outlook: There are still of course a lot of good parts on this team. They won the 2nd most games in the American League last year! They just need the hitting to rebound; a lot more of it fell apart last year than they expected, even given the leaguewide dip. If they get all that, they're still poised to contend. 7 1/2 games is nothing. Pitching Michael Pesco LHP No. 44 LL, 5'12" 199 lbs. Born 1943-12-01 in Westland, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 LOU AAA 0 1 0 4.26 1 1 0 6.1 4 3 3 1 9 1970 BOS MLB 5 2 0 2.37 9 9 5 64.1 53 18 17 19 56 1971 BOS MLB 20 14 0 3.20 41 41 15 309.0 287 117 110 119 254 1972 BOS MLB 24 10 0 2.62 39 39 15 298.1 207 94 87 134 245 Pesco has that weirdo Sid Fernandez (who?) profile of getting mad strikeouts without throwing all that hard. His (cut) fastball tops out just over 90 when everything is working right. More often, he doesn't have to rely on it like that except to set up old Mister Snappy, his curveball, or the change-up that's practically a forkball itself. The latter pitch gets grounders as often as it gets Ks and it gets Ks a goodly amount. Pesco did have some issues controlling his pitches, leading the league in walks last year. That walk rate has climbed precpitously since he missed almost all of 1970 with a partially torn labrum in his throwing shoulder and then, when he tried to come back on it, a torn flexor tendon in the same elbow. Pesco's altered his delivery since that point and while his pitches still move all over the place he can't always direct them to the right place like he used to. At least stamina-wise, Rivera has been every bit the player he was pre-surgery. Let's hope this keeps up! He's fun to watch. Justin Kindberg LHP No. 18 LL, 6'3" 201 lbs. Born 1944-11-29 in Elizabeth, PA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 BOS MLB 23 13 0 2.42 38 38 12 289.1 263 92 78 105 257 1971 BOS MLB 27 6 0 2.05 41 41 18 319.1 247 80 73 97 230 1972 BOS MLB 18 13 0 2.72 37 37 12 287.0 221 95 87 113 226 Kindberg is also not a hard thrower; really, in spite of good K rates, none of this pitches are really outstanding beyond a half-forkball, half-fastball pitch he throws called the "split fingered fastball" (which I'm sure I've mentioned other pitchers having in passing but shut up about that OK). He's the very model of consistency with 63 quality starts over the past two seasons. Nothing and I mean nothing fazes him. People talk about good NFL quarterbacks having bad memories, meaning that they won't stop throwing into tight windows when they give up a costly interception. Kindberg is the same way with his pitches: if he leaves a fastball up or hangs a curve, you can expect to see that pitch again soon. In just under 4 years with the Red Sox, Kindberg is 88-38. The only reason he's not set to be the Opening Day starter next year is the return to form by Pesco. He'd be the #1 for any other team in the league. Marco Sanchez RHP No. 31 LR, 6'3" 190 lbs. Born 1947-06-29 in La Romana, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 BOS MLB 12 11 0 3.21 29 29 8 213.0 207 89 76 48 193 1971 BOS MLB 16 10 0 2.40 30 30 13 235.2 195 68 63 38 153 1972 BOS MLB 11 11 0 2.60 28 28 13 210.2 160 62 61 53 165 Sanchez is the hardest thrower of the Three Bostenors, reaching the mid-90s on the gun. He mixes that pitch with a 12-to-6 curve, a nice slider, and a show-me change he says he learned from Pesco which, if I'm being honest, he's still learning. He gives up more flies than the other guys, a lot more this year (his GB rate was only 45%) but so far that's mostly resulted in a lot of loud outs. Sanchez could stand to work on his throw to first: runners were 13/17 on him last year and with 2 lefties ahead of him in the rotation sometimes he's the only chance teams get to run. Sanchez, like Kindberg, would be the staff ace most anywhere else. It's a little amazing that anyone got past this Big Three in 1972. Brian Osborne RHP No. 14 RR, 6'1" 195 lbs. Born 1943-12-23 in Portsmouth, OH Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 TUL AAA 13 7 0 3.31 30 30 6 217.1 179 91 80 72 148 1971 MIL MLB 8 17 0 3.45 32 32 10 221.1 210 100 85 107 101 1972 BOS MLB 13 10 1 3.65 31 28 4 197.0 184 83 80 91 102 Osborne actually throws about as hard as Sanchez does but his pitches don't have the same life. He got decent Ks in AAA in 1970 but so far that hasn't translated to the majors and, as he's 28 now, what you see is what you get. He also has more than a little problem controlling them, with a decidedly below average 4.1 BB/9 rate - his 91 walks in fact were 9th most in the AL. It all adds up to an average to below average starter who nevertheless kept his team in games through the first 5 1/2 months of the season. Osborne is really a pretty interchangeable part and has a very vulnerable position heading into 1973. I'd love to say "if he could just learn to corrall his curve" or "if he could pick up tips on the change from Pesco" but that's asking a bit too much. Sandy Hinojosa RHP No. 5 RR, 6'2" 197 lbs. Born 1934-11-01 in Cali, COL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 BOS MLB 21 11 0 2.87 36 36 10 275.2 263 117 88 77 211 1971 BOS MLB 14 11 0 3.33 37 37 6 272.2 238 114 101 94 179 1972 BOS MLB 6 4 17 3.67 55 9 1 125.0 103 54 51 48 62 Hinojosa doesn't have the kind of world-beating stuff you normally expect out of your bullpen stopper but it was good enough; the overall stats are brought down by the frankly bad job he did in the rotation. When he's in relief it's basically his high-80s fastball plus whichever of the straight change or knuckle curve happens to be working on that particular day. As a starter, all three pitches need to be "on" for him to be the stud he once was, which is no longer something he or the Red Sox can depend upon. Not having to depend on not-working pitches also meant his walk rate was much lower in relief (3.0) than as a starter (4.0). All signs point to Hinojosa moving back to the bullpen and perhaps even taking on a co-closer role with David Bly. He had pretty severe reverse splits last season: righties hit just .179 against him vs. .266 from left-handers, although it should be noted that he was often brought in expressly to face tough lefty hitters. In his career he has no career splits. OK so maybe a platoon situation isn't the greatest... Tom Brumfield RHP No. 29 LR, 5'12" 174 lbs. Born 1947-06-06 in Rowlett, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 GRN A 6 0 5 1.08 23 0 0 33.1 26 4 4 6 21 1970 LOU AAA 1 0 2 2.25 12 0 0 16.0 17 4 4 4 9 1970 BOS MLB 0 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 3.1 4 4 0 1 1 1971 PAW AA 0 0 0 0.00 2 1 0 5.2 4 0 0 2 4 1971 LOU AAA 1 7 10 3.56 35 0 0 58.0 54 24 23 30 22 1972 BOS MLB 3 6 0 4.03 37 4 0 71.1 75 36 32 18 21 Brumfield has a decent cut fastball that doesn't hit 90 on the gun but moves around well. Hitters were increasingly able to time that pitch over the second half of the season and when he tried to mix in a curve and a circle change, all that happened was he threw a lot of walks. Walks had been an issue in AAA as well. Long flies were not though and Brumfield allowed 12 HRs in just 71.1 IPs last season, 7 of them from August 1 on. On some teams, Brumfield would get another year in the minor leagues to try to get it right. On others, he wouldn't have bene left up in the first place. On the Red Sox, it's a make or break year unless he's already broken their trust. Dave Bly RHP No. 57 RR, 5'11" 184 lbs. Born 1947-04-23 in Cincinnati, OH Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 PAW AA 1 1 0 7.71 3 0 0 2.1 3 2 2 1 3 1970 MAN AA 3 0 10 0.59 21 0 0 30.1 16 3 2 10 15 1971 PAW AA 1 2 2 1.18 28 0 0 30.1 31 8 4 6 28 1971 LOU AAA 3 0 8 2.52 17 0 0 25.0 22 7 7 10 13 1972 LOU AAA 2 3 14 3.50 40 0 0 51.1 44 21 20 28 48 1972 BOS MLB 1 3 8 2.07 22 0 0 26.0 26 8 6 12 22 Bly throws absolute smoke, a high-90s fastball that he mixes with a mid-90s 2-seamer that is practically a change of pace pitch. He whiffed almost a batter an inning at both levels he pitched at in 1972 - for an inning or so an outing, there's no reason to expect anything but more of the same in the big leagues. Sometimes the fastball gets away from him but that's part of its charm: it's never been fun to sit in the box against a heater that fast that could go literally anywhere (not that By is a headhunter: he hit all of 1 batter last year and that was in AAA). He'll speak his mind to reporters, a trait which, let's be honest, Bly can do all he wants if what he says is "yeah, I throw smoke and they didn't hit it". If anyone can move Hinojosa into a setup role, it's Bly. The more I look at this guy the more I realize that yes, he has to be their new stopper. Infield Jeremy Dolak C No. 3 RR, 6'0" 209 lbs. Born 1938-11-02 in Washington, DC Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BOS MLB .279 95 330 31 92 17 0 5 39 22 28 0 1971 BOS MLB .249 119 394 37 98 24 1 6 45 21 38 0 1972 BOS MLB .214 72 215 10 46 9 0 1 24 14 32 0 For whatever reason OOTP seems determined not to give me any 80-grade catchers but Dolak is, all told, pretty good at his job, not like amazing or anything but a solid defensive catcher. He's slow to get out of his crouch at age 33 but if runners think they can steal on him, they've got another thing coming: he threw out 16 of 40 attempts last season, which would have been the top mark in the league if he qualified (I use 80 GS as the cutoff for catchers). He's always been a bit of a free swinger at the plate which was fine when that had him hitting in the .270s or even the .240s but with a .214 average it just means a lot of popups and groundouts. Dolak's 33, so no spring chicken, but he's the best defensive catcher on the roster so that right there points to him having a future here still. Sid Bartoszek C No. 20 RR, 5'10" 194 lbs. Born 1940-10-04 in Thousand Oaks, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BOS MLB .183 34 104 5 19 5 0 1 6 11 37 0 1971 BOS MLB .259 53 139 17 36 10 0 9 33 21 30 0 1972 BOS MLB .235 86 251 27 59 11 1 8 33 36 67 0 Sid's got good pop and pitchers throw around him down in the order enough that he draws his fair share of walks. The larger role exposed some big holes in his swing. Defensively he gets out in front of the plate to chase down bunts and wild pitches better than Dolak but lacks the incumbent's arm. He's not really a guy who's interested in improving his game: he's a backup catcher and that's what he'll remain. With the possible emergence of Thicke (which, the kid hit .178 in 45 at-bats; let's just say that the world may not be ready to beat to just his drum), Bartoszek might be out of a job in Beantown. Which, someone else could surely use him. Mike Miller 1B No. 15 LL, 6'2" 208 lbs. Born 1944-07-05 in New York, NY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BOS MLB .301 158 615 96 185 42 4 31 93 79 96 1 1971 BOS MLB .292 155 599 87 175 39 2 20 90 78 101 0 1972 BOS MLB .260 151 562 78 146 25 4 17 68 74 97 0 The power seemed to exit stage right in 1971 and Miller seems to have spent the first half of 1972 chasing it. He's always been, at best, a line drive hitter whose power comes when he hits those liners into the shorter alleys or down the line - down Fenway's short porch in right, for example. This year saw a big drop in those hits to the alleys and with it that big drop in average. He's still good at stretching an at-bat until he sees a pitch that he likes. He's not fast at all on the bases but isn't at least super slow at getting to first. He's perhaps the best regular first baseman in the AL defensively, with 2 Gold Gloves in the last 3 years and most likely his 3rd coming soon. The big September gives us hope that this was just a long slump. Also, in context a .260 year in a .236 league is like a .290 year in a .260 league or something like that. We'll just keep telling ourselves this: mostly, we want the old Mike Miller back. Brian Long 2B No. 39 RR, 6'1" 198 lbs. Born 1942-02-07 in Minneapolis, MN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CHW MLB .271 152 632 66 171 43 6 7 74 33 107 0 1971 BOS MLB .283 127 505 65 143 30 1 9 46 47 67 0 1972 BOS MLB .259 135 509 62 132 27 4 5 47 41 57 0 Long is your prototypical #2 hitter, especially since cutting down on the walks a couple seasons ago. Doubles were down throughout the league but he still finished 8th in the league in that category. He goes with the pitch well, specifically can get that outside pitch into right field on the hit-and-run, and is one of the better bunters in the league; in fact, he led the AL with 22 sacrifices last season. I guess the one thing he doesn't have as a 2-hole hitter is speed: now 30, Long hasn't been successful on a steal attempt since 1968 and has only attempted to steal a single base during that time. He's a solid defender who plays second primarily because he doesn't have the arm to play SS or 3B. There's no reason why Long won't be back in the lineup every day in 1973. If anything, the strained oblique that caused him to miss 3 weeks last year served to remind Boston that, slump or no slump, he's still better than most of what is out there. Chris Moore 2B No. 34 RR, 6'0" 203 lbs. Born 1940-04-18 in Garland, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 OKC AAA .342 58 190 24 65 13 0 5 33 24 39 0 1970 OAK MLB .228 90 364 41 83 18 2 11 42 31 74 1 1971 MIL MLB .200 14 45 2 9 2 0 0 3 4 11 0 1972 BOS MLB .207 61 111 8 23 5 0 4 17 16 17 0 Moore still hits for good power, maybe not as good as he thinks he can, but good, and unlike a lot of guys who try to hit it hard on every swing he's happy to send a would-be HR (let's face it, usually a flyout) to right field on an outside pitch. He's never had any kind of speed, either on the bases or in the field. Last year he had issues with his range. He's also not the surest handed of players and sometimes forgets the right base to throw to. Would Moore have a place on a different team or is his career just over? It seems unlikely he has much more to say in Boston. Kristian Schneider 3B No. 4 LR, 5'11" 193 lbs. Born 1940-06-07 in Hamburg, GER Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CAL MLB .316 97 361 55 114 21 4 6 55 35 60 4 1970 WAS MLB .222 15 54 3 12 0 0 0 3 5 12 1 1971 BOS MLB .278 106 403 50 112 23 1 8 58 30 48 2 1972 BOS MLB .262 132 473 61 124 23 7 14 75 36 74 0 Schneider loves that high inside fastball and pitchers understand this enough to not throw that his way. Some of them must have forgotten that lesson last year. He did develop a big hole in his swing last year chasing for the longball that, weirdly enough, right-handed pitchers were able to exploit with offspeed stuff. In some ways the Red Sox' attempts to spell him with youngster Edwin Madriles, then, did more harm than good at times, as Madriles is a right-handed hitter. Schneider's got a plus arm - why else would he be at third? - but has been tormented at times in the past by it being off the mark when he tries to rush throws. He's had 20+ errors 5 times in his career, although with the weird ability for all fielders to glom onto baseballs last season he only had 10 in 1972. Schneider was, in spite of the loss of average, if anything better in '72 than he was in '71. He's settled into that 400-500 AB range for the past 4 of 5 years but honestly there's no reason he can't do more. Oh yeah. It's because he gets hurt a lot. Edwin Madriles 3B No. 9 RR, 5'11" 176 lbs. Born 1946-12-23 in Caracas, VEN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 LOU AAA .278 37 133 22 37 10 1 8 25 14 27 2 1970 BOS MLB .262 65 210 27 55 19 0 7 33 25 54 1 1971 LOU AAA .205 52 195 24 40 8 3 5 28 35 27 1 1971 BOS MLB .179 13 28 6 5 1 0 1 3 3 5 0 1972 LOU AAA .245 52 192 29 47 14 1 4 12 19 38 4 1972 BOS MLB .245 46 110 13 27 5 2 4 19 16 21 0 Scouts still rate Madriles as a little above average in four of the five tools: contact, power, defensive range, and arm. The power has never quite translated to the majors but maybe it would if he had more playing time, perhaps with another team. He's got only average speed and he has only attempted one steal at the major league level the last 2 years but he's fast enough to avoid being a guy who clogs up the bases. He's a good enough third baseman that he started 3 games at short in AAA Louisville. The Red Sox' farm system is very thin and the starter is injury-prone and as such Madriles might find himself staying with this team just to provide insurance. It's not the worst job in the world, although this guy deserves to start somewhere. Oniji Handa SS No. 8 RR, 5'9" 190 lbs. Born 1943-10-26 in Gyoda, JPN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BOS MLB .289 155 662 97 191 35 3 24 91 23 48 0 1971 BOS MLB .243 154 584 55 142 34 0 4 54 31 63 2 1972 BOS MLB .239 140 481 39 115 21 1 9 44 25 47 1 There are two types of balls in play in the NL: balls that Handa can make a play on and fouls. He's a 7 time Gold Glove and is still basically an 80 grade fielder, basically the Ozzie Smith (who?) of this save (what? this is real life man). Voters seem to not be as big of a fan of defense and so he missed his 2nd straight All-Star Game this year. He's plenty fast in the field but he has never been able to translate that into baserunning skills and following going 2/5 in steals last year the Red Sox mostly nailed his foot to the bag last year. I don't have much else to say about the offense except to say that his K rate went back down in '72 after ballooning in '71 and ironically a lot of his power came back too. So yeah, in conclusion I'm still high on Handa. As a fielder, even with the bat in its current state he's one of the best if not the best shortstop in the AL (as a side note, I try to avoid looking at this but even with the 78 OPS+ Handa was worth 4.9 wins above replacement last year - yeah, the glove is that good). I'd like to see him get off to a better start just to get back into the Midsummer Classic. Otherwise, though, he's the Red Sox' shortstop, period, end of story. Outfield Bruce Springsteen LF No. 23 LL, 6'0" 189 lbs. Born 1949-07-29 in Long Branch, NJ Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 NEW S A .286 20 70 9 20 2 1 3 10 8 24 7 1970 CLI A .318 58 211 26 67 8 3 5 33 34 46 6 1970 POR AAA .130 6 23 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 1971 DAN A .275 64 236 32 65 9 1 7 27 39 43 8 1971 MIL MLB .290 32 124 16 36 4 0 9 21 10 25 2 1972 BOS MLB .306 103 369 48 113 30 4 10 59 39 49 3 "The Boss" hasn't quite filled out just yet although I'm pretty sure the real-life Springsteen isn't 6', 190. What I'm saying is, there's probably still power in there. He doesn't strike out a huge amount and he's quick enough out of the box that while scouts think he projects to around a .270 average I think it might be a bit more. He hit a lot in the 5th and 6th slots in the lineup. He probably doesn't have the speed to lead off and the team has Brian Long to bat 2nd so even if the .306 average isn't a fluke that's closer to his true place in the order. Springsteen doesn't always seem to "get" baseball and sometimes it shows when he's asked to shag flies in center in practice: he doesn't make good angles on the ball and his future is likely in the corners. Still, Springsteen is a real gem for the Red Sox to have picked up. Already he looks like he's pretty well replaced Jun Kim in the lineup for now and the forseeable future. Matt Wilson PH/RF No. 7 LL, 5'10" 192 lbs. Born 1935-12-23 in Bolingbrook, IL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 STL MLB .291 32 55 6 16 5 0 0 4 8 8 0 1970 BOS MLB .265 55 196 32 52 13 0 4 26 22 27 1 1971 BOS MLB .353 46 51 9 18 2 0 2 11 9 10 0 1972 BOS MLB .200 86 85 4 17 3 0 0 6 12 17 0 As of this writing, the Red Sox have room on their 40 man roster but Wilson will need to impress in spring training to keep his job. Jon Glynn CF No. 27 RR, 6'1" 190 lbs. Born 1945-09-19 in Colleyville, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 BOS MLB .246 123 483 63 119 17 5 6 37 30 77 27 1971 BOS MLB .268 146 612 98 164 29 8 13 53 38 80 37 1972 BOS MLB .229 94 393 48 90 19 3 6 22 25 68 20 Glynn's greatest asset is his speed. He's always a threat to steal when he gets on base; indeed, even in 1972 he finished just out of the top 10 in the AL with 20 steals in 23 tries. He hit 13 HRs in 1971 but that might have been the worst possible thing to happen to him as too often he tries to pull everything and won't lay off the high heat, even as his power returned to historical levels. He's a good, solid center fielder thanks to that speed and if asked to lay down a bunt he's pretty good at it, both in terms of sacrificing others (he had 5 SHs last year) and bunting for a hit. He'd help himself out a lot more if he learned to take a few pitches. Too much of Glynn's value is in the field to even think about DHing him. He'll be in a fight for the starting CF job with Johnson come March. Brian Johnson OF No. 21 LL, 6'2" 188 lbs. Born 1947-10-01 in Durham, ENG Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 GRN A .316 117 452 91 143 21 9 4 65 58 55 33 1971 GRN A .455 14 55 11 25 1 2 3 8 4 6 5 1971 PAW AA .293 93 338 40 99 12 3 5 43 37 25 10 1971 LOU AAA .297 12 37 6 11 4 0 1 5 13 7 1 1972 LOU AAA .384 36 138 20 53 8 0 4 27 18 6 3 1972 BOS MLB .294 49 170 23 50 14 2 1 14 18 17 7 Johnson does not have the power stroke that Glynn does and so will not ever con himself into thinking he's a middle of the lineup hitter. Instead, he specializes in line drives into the gaps and otherwise getting his bat on anything near the strike zone. When he's on, nothing gets past him for long. He's about as fast as Glynn in a footrace but as a native Englishman who is unaccustomed to theft, he doesn't have the same instincts on the bases: both of the double-digit steal seasons you see on that line came with a lot of caughts: at AA Pawtucket he was 10/22 and at A ball he was caught 22 times in 1970. He also gets caught out in the field trying to go a bit further than he should and this can lead to some bad errors. In spite of a still raw approach to the game, scouts breezily proclaim that Johnson is a potential .330 hitter. With that kind of contact potential and given his willingness to work on everything, it's going to be really, really hard to keep him out of the lineup. Goodwill Zwelithini CF No. 6 LR, 5'9" 170 lbs. Born 1948-07-15 in Nongoma, RSA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 W-S A .385 6 26 3 10 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 1970 WH A .272 41 158 17 43 3 1 0 12 12 25 6 1971 GRN A .296 80 304 34 90 9 6 4 36 15 37 12 1971 PAW AA .273 53 198 21 54 8 3 1 22 14 20 1 1972 PAW AA .301 21 83 16 25 4 1 1 5 5 6 2 1972 LOU AAA .304 86 342 50 104 15 3 8 48 15 45 4 1972 BOS MLB .271 31 96 14 26 4 2 4 12 6 6 1 Zwelithini is the 3rd out of 3 center fielders on the team and so seems like a good trade chip to perhaps acquire a slugging DH type. Prior to his August call-up he showed pretty OK power in AAA Louisville and wound up getting double digits in HRs for the first time in his young career. He's got speed but hasn't figured out how to steal bases or read outfielders to take extra bases on defense yet, and in the field he has similar issues with Johnson where he's got decent range but is known to misplay the ball at times. The king of KwaZulu's future probably looks like more of a 4th outfielder role, although if the Red Sox ship him to the right team he could very well get a chance to start. Tom Brown RF No. 33 RR, 5'12" 201 lbs. Born 1938-11-21 in Sterling Heights, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CHW MLB .273 150 604 85 165 29 5 23 91 41 85 15 1971 BOS MLB .301 150 607 81 183 32 7 17 89 41 73 11 1972 BOS MLB .273 142 567 72 155 25 11 11 71 36 71 20 Brown's power dipped for the 3rd straight year after hitting, let's be honest, an uncharacteristic 23 HRs his last year with the White Sox. He's much more of a line-drive / gap hitter and last year his speed allowed him to finish 3rd in the league in triples. Brown has plus speed and if it wasn't for his hitting prowess he could bat at the top of a lineup. That speed shows out in the field, where he's won 2 Gold Gloves as a left fielder (one of them before I took over the award voting - the game has this weirdo thing where it considers LF its own position... still, Brown was worth a combined 15.2 ZR in '71 so he still won a GG then too). Although he transitioned to right last year, runners who thought they'd be able to advance on him were sorely mistaken, as he got double-digit baserunner kills for the first time since 1968. Brown will be in the middle of the lineup for this team next year and at 33 he shows no signs of letting up. Mario Fernandez OF/1B No. 2 RR, 5'11" 189 lbs. Born 1946-09-10 in Guayabetal, COL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CHR AAA .312 82 298 29 93 13 2 3 33 12 50 10 1970 PIT MLB .227 27 44 4 10 2 0 0 3 1 8 1 1971 DAN A .322 28 118 17 38 6 1 1 15 12 12 0 1971 EVA AAA .284 22 88 8 25 2 1 0 11 11 7 0 1971 MIL MLB .368 10 19 1 7 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 1972 BOS MLB .281 57 135 21 38 7 0 0 15 8 12 0 It's hard to see a solid role for Fernandez on this team going forward. It also seems mean to move him around for the 4th straight season. We'll see what the offseason holds.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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Detroit Tigers
95-61, 1st AL East, Won ALCS 3-0, Won World Series 4-1 1972 Outlook: The Tigers rebounded well from a rough 1970 season, winning 82 games and getting within 10 games of the division winner for the first time since 1967. This is a team that had never even won the pennant during the single-division era and in fact their 2nd place finish was the high water mark for a team that had finished dead last 6 times in their history. Things were looking up... maybe a dream season was even in store... 1972 In Review: And what a dream year it was! Detroit started out fast - 8-3 in April, 26-11 through May - and never looked back. The closest anyone really got was the O's pushed to 3 games back on July 12 following a couple losses to the Texas Rangers but from that day onwards they went 49-30, winning what was supposed to be a competitive AL East in a romp. And they didn't stop there, sweeping the Angels and then coming extremely close to doing the same to Pittsburgh. All in all they had a balanced approach, 2nd in the AL in runs scored (3rd overall) and 4th in the league in runs allowed (5th overall). 1973 Outlook: The guys who got them there are for the most part pretty young so this was not a one-hit wonder. Look out, 1970s! Pitching Jimmy Goddard RHP No. 50 SR, 5'11" 197 lbs. Born 1940-03-16 in Arabi, LA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 DET MLB 2 2 0 3.20 11 10 1 73.0 62 31 26 30 49 1971 DET MLB 19 8 0 2.58 33 29 6 226.0 187 75 65 68 149 1972 DET MLB 18 13 0 2.33 41 41 11 311.2 263 92 81 95 184 Goddard has a pretty unconventional pitch assortment. Mostly he just throws it fast, well, as fast as he's known to throw it - he might break 90 on a good day - and changes speed and location to get outs. He finished in the top 10 in strikeouts but that was more of a side effect of pitching so many innings over actually creating a lot of whiffs. What he does excel at is allowing weak contact and forcing you to beat him. He allowed only 10 HRs last year, good for the 4th best HR/9 mark in the AL (0.29). Known for his robot-like consistency, Goddard also led the league in quality starts with 33. He won't win the Cy Young but at age 33, Goddard has put together the 2 best years of his career at an age when most pitchers are exiting their prime, not entering it. Edgar Molina RHP No. 32 RR, 6'2" 191 lbs. Born 1944-10-13 in La Romana, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 DET MLB 13 16 0 3.68 34 34 12 258.2 226 115 106 94 238 1971 DET MLB 19 14 0 3.47 36 35 11 259.1 256 117 100 85 183 1972 DET MLB 21 11 0 3.09 40 40 15 305.0 234 111 105 108 264 Molina's a guy who will just straight-up challenge you. He throws so much gas, he's just going to blow things past you most of the time. He also has a slider with a ton of bite that he'll mix in with the riser to get that 3rd strike, a forkball, and a change. The one downside of his all-or-nothing approach is that he is prone to give up the longball, especially in his home park: he's led the league in HRs allowed in 3 of the last 4 seasons and the one year he didn't he gave up 31 of them. Last year, 18 of 30 came in Detroit, which is I guess bad in some respects but in others, that's the place his teammates are most likely to hit a lot of them too. One day Molina's fastball will no longer be there for him to rely on and he'll have to learn how to pitch a bit more. That day has not come yet. Bruce Rubio RHP No. 10 RR, 5'8" 173 lbs. Born 1948-02-18 in Kansas City, KS Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 DEN AAA 7 5 0 3.91 22 22 7 161.0 163 75 70 61 122 1970 TEX MLB 7 3 0 2.10 11 11 4 85.2 74 29 20 28 58 1971 DET MLB 16 10 0 3.03 35 35 7 261.1 244 101 88 91 165 1972 DET MLB 18 13 0 3.31 37 37 6 274.0 241 106 101 78 174 Rubio works hard and is always trying out some new pitch or other. His fastball is quicker than Goddard's but slower than Molina's, breaks in on righties, and comes with a nice knuckle curve. Sometimes that curve or the regular curve or the forkball or whatever else it is that Rubio elects to throw on a given day will hang and that gets him into trouble. He actually tied Molina for most HRs allowed. In spite of that, he managed to finish with 18 wins in spite of less run support than his 2 teammates by keeping his walks down and his strikeouts up. He was 9th in the AL in Ks - pretty good for a 3rd starter. Rubio's ideal spot looks like the middle of the rotation. He could always develop into more: he's a hard worker and eventually he'll run out of new pitches to try out. Even as it is, he's a great competitor and a real asset to this staff. Juan Merino RHP No. 26 SR, 6'2" 193 lbs. Born 1947-02-23 in Overland Park, KS Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 TOL AAA 2 8 0 3.91 14 14 0 96.2 99 45 42 29 102 1970 DET MLB 7 9 0 4.85 20 20 3 139.0 141 80 75 61 119 1971 DET MLB 12 12 0 3.86 31 31 4 226.0 210 105 97 88 144 1972 DET MLB 13 1 0 2.70 26 21 3 166.2 131 54 50 69 109 Merino is a guy who's been with the Tigers' organization since he was drafted back in 1965. He ranked as high as the #5 overall prospect on the preseason list in '67 but could never quite put things together. At 25, he's regarded as more of a good-but-not great prospect with a big, breaking curveball and a low-90s riser. Merino is pretty cool headed and doesn't get himself into trouble as much as some of the guys who started ahead of him in 1972. He has an awkward delivery that puts him out of position to handle plays well but when runners do inevitably reach base on him he does a decent job at holding them onto the bag: runners have had 18 steals against 14 caught stealings over the past 3 years. Sure, the winning percentage was way out of line compared to what Merino's capable of long-term. The Tigers even realized this, putting him back into long relief when the postseason started (he got into just one game, 1.2 IP in a 6-3 win at California). He's just fine as a back of the rotation man and he's still young enough to turn into something more than that. Jim Marceau RHP No. 2 RR, 5'9" 179 lbs. Born 1941-05-30 in Tallmadge, OH Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 MIN MLB 3 3 3 2.89 41 0 0 56.0 50 19 18 17 47 1971 DET MLB 5 3 11 2.21 54 0 0 69.0 63 22 17 24 66 1972 DET MLB 5 7 25 3.56 62 0 0 83.1 76 37 33 41 72 Marceau throws haaard, as hard as Molina does (believe it or not, he's not the hardest tosser on the staff - coming soon) although of course just one or two innings at a time. He mixes in a curve that misses the zone a lot but is hard to lay off of even when people know it's coming. In August and September both, he had a lot of problems keeping either pitch in the strike zone and that resulted in a 5.84 ERA in the first month... although in September we saw hitters get just plain scared of his repertoire: in spite of 10 walks allowed in 13.1 IP post-September 1, Marceau surrendered just 2 earned runs. Between Marceau and, okay, I'll just say it, Alex Madrigal, it feels like the Tigers should actually get *fewer* hard throwers, maybe mix in some soft tossers a bit more. Alex Madrigal RHP No. 3 LR, 5'10" 182 lbs. Born 1939-12-30 in Santo Domingo, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 TOL AAA 0 0 0 2.99 2 0 0 3.0 4 1 1 0 1 1970 DET MLB 3 13 26 3.96 66 0 0 86.1 97 41 38 39 59 1971 DET MLB 9 7 20 2.24 50 0 0 76.1 56 22 19 30 44 1972 TOL AAA 1 0 1 1.35 5 0 0 6.2 7 1 1 4 3 1972 DET MLB 2 2 8 3.49 22 0 0 28.1 28 11 11 18 16 This guy is a reeeeeeeal enigma. That fastball's straight, like Andy Benes (who?) straight. Regardless, hitters should not be able to get around on it as often as they do. Madrigal's 32 now and has been with the Tigers organization his entire professional careeer. I hate to even say this but... maybe it's time for a new home. Todd Theisen RHP No. 11 RR, 6'0" 201 lbs. Born 1939-08-08 in Jackson, TN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl W L Sv ERA G GS CG IP H R ER BB SO 1970 MIN MLB 7 1 4 2.98 27 3 1 54.1 55 19 18 12 42 1971 POR AAA 2 0 0 1.99 4 4 0 27.0 22 7 6 13 12 1971 MIN MLB 1 3 5 5.58 14 0 0 19.1 26 14 12 4 14 1971 STL MLB 2 0 1 5.58 7 0 0 9.2 7 6 6 1 5 1972 DET MLB 8 6 4 3.61 37 7 0 94.2 89 40 38 42 52 The 7 starts were Theisen's highest total since 1968. Given the state of this rotation it seems unlikely that he'll get that many again. More importantly though, Theisen looked like a gamer after a horrible 1971 that looked like the gig might have been up. Infield Gianluigi Farinelli C No. 22 RR, 6'0" 202 lbs. Born 1941-09-23 in Maracaibo, VEN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 DET MLB .257 124 486 48 125 27 2 11 50 32 117 0 1971 DET MLB .273 126 465 53 127 22 2 13 69 40 105 0 1972 DET MLB .197 123 366 34 72 13 1 7 45 42 83 0 Through it all, it has to be said, one advantage of the poor play is that it highlighted how good Farinelli is in the field. He really should get more caught stealings with his arm, which is rated among the best in baseball - he was a pretty average 27.7% at throwing guys out. At the plate, too, I should note that he cut down on the strikeouts after going over 100 in each of his first 2 seasons as a starter. Unfortunately, instead of replacing those Ks with singles and doubles, Farinelli replaced them with weak pop flies and groundouts to third and short. He's not really a guy to fire up a pitcher who's moping around; in fairness to the Tigers, they don't really have guys like that. Farinelli's got the starting catcher job pretty much by default. I'm seeing a guy who was... okay in AAA, a 25 year old post-prospect named Joel Moise. He might challenge for the job, but he's got a bad arm so maybe not. Trey Forgey C No. 16 RR, 5'10" 201 lbs. Born 1942-01-18 in West Richland, WA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 TOL AAA .248 30 105 9 26 3 0 3 21 10 26 0 1970 DET MLB .220 26 100 7 22 4 1 1 16 8 12 0 1971 DET MLB .185 42 124 6 23 4 2 1 12 19 23 0 1972 DET MLB .164 60 122 5 20 3 0 0 11 16 17 1 This was the kind of year that is often too much for even a defense-first catcher to be able to come back from. There's a guy on the 1984 Tigers (science fiction!) who had a year like this in 1985 and then just disappeared. It's not hard to see this happening to Forgey, nice guy or otherwise. Jonathan House C No. 4 LR, 5'9" 201 lbs. Born 1942-05-26 in Center Line, MI Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CLE MLB .244 130 435 47 106 13 0 10 46 37 105 0 1971 CLE MLB .217 90 249 17 54 6 2 3 26 20 52 0 1972 TEX MLB .187 39 107 6 20 3 2 1 8 8 28 0 1972 DET MLB .200 12 30 0 6 1 0 0 3 1 8 0 House was used almost entirely against RHPs last season but hit .197 against them. The average-ish contact he once seemed to possess is gone and, playing so infrequently that he couldn't get any streaks going, the double-digit power seems to be a thing of the past as well. House has never so much as attempted a steal in the major leagues and I wouldn't expect him to start now. In Texas, his always-bad wing was at late-career Carlton Fisk (who?) levels of bad: 23 steal attempts, only 3 caught stealings. Unless House can either improve his arm or remember how to hit in a big hurry, his career might be about as over as Trey Forgey's looks to be. Niki Lauda 1B No. 24 LL, 6'0" 199 lbs. Born 1949-10-09 in Vienna, AUT Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 RM A .289 10 38 5 11 2 0 1 4 8 8 0 1970 LAK A .250 63 216 19 54 11 1 1 27 36 44 0 1971 MGM AA .258 38 128 22 33 7 1 4 14 23 20 0 1971 TOL AAA .314 95 357 71 112 23 0 17 61 60 35 0 1971 DET MLB .471 17 17 7 8 1 0 1 4 5 2 0 1972 TOL AAA .299 35 127 20 38 11 1 7 19 17 23 0 1972 DET MLB .280 117 354 52 99 18 0 18 65 53 51 1 Lauda's swing is a good fit for Detroit: in just 354 at-bats he still managed to finish 7th in the AL in homeruns and 2nd on the team in RBIs to Jose Ayala. Scouts think this is just the beginning, too, and he certainly knows how to put on a show in batting practice. Pitchers caught onto the power pretty quickly and for Lauda's part he took walks when they were given to him. He did strike out a lot but that's one place where you can even look at the numbers - for instance his 1971 campaign in Montgomery - and see that once he learns a league he's pretty good at avoiding them. The trick in the big leagues will be doing so without sacrificing all that power. Lauda is primarily interested in driving racecars and so is pretty indifferent when it comes to the finer points of the game, something that will hurt him in the field. Between Lauda, Joey Ramone, and Alvin Romero, the Tigers have 3 young players who are already among the best and brightest in the league. Danny Villegas 1B/2B No. 12 RR, 6'0" 199 lbs. Born 1937-06-10 in Guatire, VEN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 DET MLB .284 144 525 84 149 22 4 35 90 75 70 5 1971 DET MLB .289 110 384 64 111 14 1 29 76 58 72 2 1972 DET MLB .265 47 162 24 43 2 0 12 40 32 25 0 Villegas comports to the 1970s line of thinking that working out just makes you musclebound. He has what the kids in the 2010s (time travel!) would call a "dad bod". He's been a Tiger all 9 years of his major league career and normally loves the short alleys in both left and right; however, in 1972 8 of his 12 HRs came away from Detroit. Villegas was never particularly fast and years of accumulated knee issues have left him as a guy with knees so bad that sometimes he'll stagger and fall after a hard swing. In spite of this, he can still move decently well in the field at first - the man was a second baseman after all - and is tall enough to get a lot of high throws. Fingers crossed, the DH extends Villegas' career for 5 years. Without it, in another era last year might have been a swan song. Tim Suman 1B No. 28 SR, 5'12" 201 lbs. Born 1947-03-03 in Grand Terrace, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MGM AA .342 121 412 65 141 23 0 13 67 21 16 1 1971 TOL AAA .222 3 9 1 2 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 1971 DET MLB .322 108 276 35 89 14 0 6 40 15 17 0 1972 TOL AAA .284 29 81 11 23 5 0 4 14 1 5 0 1972 DET MLB .233 62 120 14 28 6 0 1 14 9 12 0 That's kind of not a great sign for Suman's future, so I've stuck him on the trading block to see if someone else wants to carve out a job for a guy who looks to me like a 25 year old Bill Buckner (who?). Joey Ramone 2B/OF No. 19 RR, 5'11" 177 lbs. Born 1948-12-30 in Monument, CO Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1971 LAK A .000 1 3 0 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1971 MGM AA .290 25 100 13 29 7 0 4 8 6 19 1 1971 TOL AAA .361 9 36 2 13 2 1 1 10 3 9 0 1971 DET MLB .343 68 254 35 87 17 4 6 34 31 49 3 1972 DET MLB .304 116 461 61 140 29 7 13 62 43 85 4 Ramone has one of those picture-perfect swings that coaches tell kids to emulate in batting practice. He still has a tendency to chase the high fastball that probably kept him from winning the batting title last year; he's 23 and, in spite of singing songs about wanting to be sedated, pretty even-keeled, so he's got the time and energy to do it. Ramone was really bad on the basepaths last year, stealing just 4 out of 13 attempts. Judging from his spot in the lineup I don't think this was due to a lot of hit-and-run plays either; he just has not-great instincts. As a fielder, he's got great, great range at second base and only isn't considered a shortstop because of a well below average arm tool. To think that Ramone did all this and is still barely old enough to drink... it's big. It's... I! O! LET'S GO! Jose Ayala 3B/1B No. 33 RR, 5'12" 195 lbs. Born 1941-05-29 in Managua, NCA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 DET MLB .274 144 587 75 161 26 2 19 63 43 103 0 1971 DET MLB .267 135 460 49 123 16 0 16 52 35 76 0 1972 DET MLB .260 135 511 65 133 22 2 20 74 36 93 2 The Joker has middle of the order power but also some middle of the order holes in his swing. He loves that high inside fastball although it does not always share the same love for him (although really outside of Ernesto Garcia he's as good a power hitter as anyone in the league right now). Ayala is kind of a tweener, a 2-time Gold Glove Award winner at first base who gets asked to play 3rd a lot even though he doesn't have particularly good range. The scouts say you should DH him; that's going a bit too far, although when error rates get back to normal he might be in for a rude awakening. He's a joker, he's a smoker, he's a midnight toker. Call him the Gangster of Love. Also call him the starting 3rd baseman for the best team in baseball. Joe Theismann 3B/SS No. 99 RR, 5'10" 177 lbs. Born 1949-09-21 in New Brunswick, NJ Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 RM A .291 68 258 33 75 14 3 0 41 29 59 8 1970 LAK A .276 27 105 15 29 3 2 1 19 8 26 5 1971 CLI A .333 12 48 7 16 2 0 1 3 6 3 3 1971 MGM AA .286 95 364 49 104 24 5 4 40 29 47 9 1972 MGM AA .325 37 120 23 39 3 2 3 10 19 17 1 1972 TOL AAA .342 19 73 18 25 4 1 3 9 5 16 2 1972 DET MLB .316 48 95 10 30 4 1 2 8 11 13 3 He's going to be a contact guy and so that's a big change from Ayala. I still think Ayala probably has at least a year left, not so much because of loyalty but because he's an established fact at third base whereas Theismann, fine pedigree, fine scouting, and all that, could still wash out in the major leagues. Rob Curran SS/3B No. 31 LR, 6'1" 203 lbs. Born 1946-11-14 in New York, NY Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 PFD AA .297 30 91 17 27 4 1 2 9 30 10 0 1970 WAS MLB .231 116 390 44 90 15 5 4 33 62 109 2 1971 DET MLB .245 107 269 33 66 12 1 3 21 41 60 0 1972 DET MLB .265 123 400 50 106 16 3 5 30 57 53 8 Curran's a classic good-field no-hit shortstop except that he's developed the contact tool pretty well, hitting 29 points above the league average last year. 1972 was the 3rd consecutive season where Curran lowered his strikeout totals: with Washington in 1970 he really looked like a guy who's swing would be exploited but that's just not the case anymore: he's a solid, above average contact hitter now. Curran was drafted in the first round more than anything else because of his defense. He glides to his left and his right with equal ability and he's got a great arm out there as well. The only potential downside we see is that sometimes Curran has a habit of making the easy plays look hard. Curran batted 2nd for the second half of the season. That trend ought to continue. Even if he goes back to hitting deep in the order, he's a bug enough plus on "D" that he's an easy choice to put in the lineup every day. Matt Mullen SS No. 35 RR, 5'10" 201 lbs. Born 1941-08-12 in Garland, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 DET MLB .266 151 563 50 150 23 6 0 43 31 114 3 1971 DET MLB .226 137 402 28 91 13 2 0 27 23 76 5 1972 DET MLB .187 62 155 11 29 2 1 1 13 17 30 0 Now is the time in Mullen's career, should he choose to accept it, where he becomes a utility guy. He's really great on the pivot so you could totally see him fill in at second base once he gets the experience and his arm is more than up to the task at third as well. Mullen's been a team leader since taking over short in 1966 and that probably comes to an end - nobody listens to guys on the bench - but chemistry-wise he's just such a great fit. Outfield Tom Berenger OF/1B No. 17 RR, 6'1" 201 lbs. Born 1949-05-27 in Chicago, IL Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 PON R .308 36 130 37 40 6 0 17 34 17 40 4 1970 BAT S A .295 41 139 18 41 6 0 2 13 22 36 4 1971 CLI A .285 71 277 46 79 27 0 11 68 38 46 1 1971 MGM AA .240 62 233 25 56 16 1 2 22 26 32 1 1971 TOL AAA .143 2 7 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1972 MGM AA .220 41 141 21 31 9 0 3 21 30 15 1 1972 TOL AAA .322 47 171 28 55 12 2 9 28 17 24 0 1972 DET MLB .299 39 117 17 35 9 0 4 19 9 16 0 Berenger doesn't really have the power you expect for a corner outfielder but he's not terrible at driving the ball, especially in Tiger Stadium, and he's got a positive hit took that, in spite of the low draft slot, appears to be for real. He's got average speed, in spite of what he showed in college (man was 29/39 in steals his final year), and is a pure corner outfielder and is a pure corner outfielder / first baseman / DH. He does work hard at his job, almost as though he's learning a part for a future role. It wouldn't be completely out of place to see Berenger win a platoon job here. He could just as easily be moved away for bullpen help if someone else sees that contact tool and wants to turn him into a full-time starter. Joshua Birley OF No. 60 LL, 6'4" 200 lbs. Born 1945-04-23 in Markham, CAN Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 LAK A .290 8 31 4 9 0 0 0 3 4 1 2 1970 MGM AA .296 35 125 23 37 7 2 4 14 20 13 6 1970 TOL AAA .260 75 246 23 64 12 3 1 25 27 35 10 1971 TOL AAA .296 62 226 34 67 11 3 1 20 19 26 6 1971 KC MLB .222 17 18 0 4 2 0 0 2 0 2 0 1971 DET MLB .379 16 29 4 11 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 1972 TOL AAA .250 63 248 35 62 11 1 4 22 17 31 5 1972 DET MLB .278 33 115 16 32 5 1 1 7 10 19 1 Alvin Romero CF No. 41 LL, 6'3" 205 lbs. Born 1945-12-10 in Grape Creek, TX Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 CAL MLB .273 12 22 4 6 2 0 0 1 2 0 4 1970 WAS MLB .323 137 576 106 186 31 13 5 40 53 32 68 1971 DET MLB .335 129 531 98 178 34 6 8 48 48 45 50 1972 DET MLB .296 148 595 103 176 30 5 4 41 75 55 48 There's not much more to say about the guy except that he's awesome, he's a calm, cool-headed guy who rallies the troops even at the tender age of 26, and who's just beginning to enter his prime years. A whole lot can happen between now and age 40 but consider this: Romero's played 3 full seasons and part of a 4th and he already has 621 hits. Danny Hohman OF No. 1 LL, 5'11" 187 lbs. Born 1944-01-19 in Los Angeles, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1971 ALB AAA .750 1 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1971 LAD MLB .283 26 106 15 30 4 2 2 11 7 16 2 1972 DET MLB .260 94 346 47 90 18 1 5 40 44 43 18 Before he got hurt, Hohman was a 3-time All-Star who hit .325 for the Dodgers in 1969 and stole 38 bases in 2 years. The contact tool wasn't there as much in 1972, although he still carried that same ability to foul off pitches that weren't in the right part of the zone for him. I will say that as good as 43 Ks in 346 innings was, before the injury Hohman was striking out close to once every 20 at-bats (26 Ks in 404 ABs in 1969, 27 in 574 in 1968). The line drive stroke that led him to 30 doubles in '68 was absent. Fielding-wise, he was a serviceable centerfielder before he got hurt but didn't play there at all last year. Judging from the now good but not great range he showed in left and right, this wasn't entirely due to the presence of Romero. Hohman did it. He came back. Now comes the part where gets back to that All-Star form. Chris Contreras OF No. 8 LL, 6'3" 200 lbs. Born 1944-07-14 in Consuelo, DOM Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 DET MLB .309 112 466 54 144 31 2 7 43 22 45 1 1971 DET MLB .258 88 322 34 83 15 3 5 46 11 41 1 1972 DET MLB .247 79 223 21 55 7 1 3 22 13 21 0 When he was getting things done, Contreras had line drive power into the gaps and just enough speed to turn those hits into doubles. The speed is now mostly gone even at 28. He still gets out of the batters' box really quickly, a trait which had him - somehow, even with the low K totals - not ground into a single double play last year. Contreras has never been a patient hitter, although he studies guys enough to know when they're going to give him that first pitch he can hit. His range has never been super great although he's got a good arm in right, good enough I guess that it wasn't tested last year (though he did get 2 BRKs in 291 innings in left). Contreras is still only 28 and someone is bound to want to take a chance on the former ROY. That someone won't be the Tigers. Frankie Faison 2B/SS/RF No. 77 LR, 5'9" 170 lbs. Born 1949-06-08 in Redding, CA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 RM A .313 65 201 38 63 10 0 3 25 25 20 1 1971 CLI A .233 32 103 17 24 3 1 1 11 17 24 0 1971 MGM AA .313 83 304 41 95 24 2 1 29 25 38 0 1971 TOL AAA .235 13 51 4 12 1 1 0 3 5 2 0 1972 TOL AAA .325 33 123 12 40 7 1 0 7 14 10 0 1972 DET MLB .323 74 198 30 64 10 1 3 24 16 11 1 The Tigers have been burned by this kind of player in the past in both Chris Contreras and Guillermo Thompson but it's hard to stay away from guys who threaten to hit .320 and set the table for the power hitters. Faison has good line drive power although nobody's going to mix him up for a homerun threat. He will take any pitch wherever it wants to go and has a short, compact swing without a lot of holes. His minor league record indicates he's not that bad of a 2B, with a good first step and soft hands that overcome a relative lack of speed. In right the lack of speed is a bit more evident. Faison's future is kind of simple: if he keeps hitting, the Tigers will find room for him. If he doesn't, he can still be a utility guy. I guess that's not so simple. Bill Wilson OF No. 3 SR, 6'1" 202 lbs. Born 1944-02-02 in Philadelphia, PA Code:
Yr Tm Lvl Avg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB 1970 MGM AA .313 98 336 42 105 18 2 10 49 26 37 0 1970 TOL AAA .364 7 11 1 4 0 1 0 1 3 2 0 1971 TOL AAA .247 67 154 19 38 8 0 3 19 17 16 0 1972 TOL AAA .285 59 172 22 49 7 0 9 31 18 28 0 1972 DET MLB .270 35 115 10 31 6 0 3 18 6 11 0 Wilson is an organizational soldier who came on up midway through the season and celebrated his debut/rookie year as a 5th outfielder. A switch hitter with a decent contact tool and not a lot else, Wilson was mostly in the right place at the right time to pick up 115 at-bats and win a World Series ring as the 25th man on the roster. Will he be back in 1973 for this team? He's cheap so probably but it's not like the Tigers will super hard miss him if he's gone.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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Immediate Postseason 1972
## Standings / Recap / Comments
I might do something with this in the offseason... but if I'm being honest, probably not. Otherwise, I'm just keeping the first 10 days or so of the offseason here - some trades but we also had New Horizons Day that I recapped in pretty exhaustive detail. If you're a fan of Cleveland baseball, I'm sorry! ## Major Transactions October 19: The White Sox trade RF Arnold Scharzenegger (.186, 0, 14) to the Indians for SS John Johnson (.219, 1, 18). Let the dismantling begin! Johnson has, in fairness, been kind of bad with the Indians and I'm pretty sure I noted that he could use a change of scenery in my writeup. He still finished 2nd in the AL in hitting in both 1969 and 1970. Ahnold is another guy who could stand to play somewhere else. Cleveland can surely find a place in the outfield for his speed, glove, and quippy one-liners. October 20: The Braves trade minor league IF Jesper Christensen (.308, 19, 58) to the Cubs for RP Freddy Uscanga (2-4, 4.47). The Cubs plan on bringing in Christensen to compete for the shortstop job, although he may not have the range for that; he was a 2nd baseman in Richmond and if we're being honest if he could have played short he would have already. Uscanga, though, is just plain bad and this is more of a not-release release than anything else. October 22: The Expos claim P Bill Hernandez (2-2, 4.26 in AAA Salt Lake City) off of waivers from the Angels. Hernandez was 15-7, 2.97 with SLC in 1971 in spite of an underwater K/W ratio and hey, it's not like Montreal has anything better to do here. He's still only 25 but looked wild and bad as a middle reliever last year in the minors. October 24: The Yankees trade minor league OF <name redacted> (.338, 5, 27 at AA West Haven) to the Padres for CF Chavo Guerrero (.165, 0, 9). Guerrero definitely needs a change of scenery himself after last year. The Padres get back <someone who I will name if/when it comes to it> in return, who had a good season in AA but is already 23 so he'll have to build on that kind of quickly to become a major league starter. October 25: The Phillies purchase C Trey Forgey (.164, 0, 11) and P Pat Pierson (2-4, 3.79 at AAA Toledo) from the Tigers for $15,000. What better way to celebrate a World Series win by selling guys off for cash? Forgey might be out of the league soon but he'll get one last chance to stick in Philadelphia. Pierson got a cup of coffee in the majors last year - 2 games - and has played a grand total of 19 of them in the major leagues over the course of his 5 year pro career. October 25: The Royals trade P Andy Lagunas (9-11, 2.82) to the Pirates for RP Georgia Cavazzano (10-4, 3.12, 14 Sv at AAA Charlotte). Lagunas was a bring surprise for the Royals in '71 but this is still very much a rebuilding team and Cavazzano, an Italian cartoonist, is 6 years younger and still fills a big, gaping need for them. From the Pirates' perspective, you can never have too much pitching. October 26: The Dodgers trade minor league OF Jay Leno (.358, 4, 14 at A Bakersfield) to the Cardinals for minor league SP Roland Matthes (8-7, 3.66 at AA Arkansas) and minor league RP Ken Kutaragi (5-4, 2.63, 3 Sv). Leno, a stand-up comedian who said he always wanted to be in LA, was blocked severely in a very deep Dodgers minor league system. LA gives up an OF prospect in exchange for two pretty decent pitching prospects who are also, respectively, a German swimmer and a Japenese businessman who has wild ideas about a thing called a "playstation". October 27: The Braves trade CF Josh Damon (.261, 113, 47) to the Rangers for CL Ron Shepherd (5-6, 2.56, 11 Sv). Atlanta has a glut of outfielders and Damon looks like he's out of a job with the emergence of Michael Lee "Meatloaf" Aday (.281, 2, 32) in center. And boy oh boy do they need pitching. Texas has lots of pitching and was really, really bad on offense so Damon should fit in somewhere, maybe left, maybe center if Norm Hodge is washed. October 27: The Twins trade minor league C <name redacted> (.342, 7, 20 in rookie ball) to the Yankees for OF Dan Field (.181, 2, 9), <Redacted> is an okay-ish catching prospect, but very young and at least 2-3 years away from making it. He's not in the Twins' top 20. For him, they receive Dan Field, who was going to be exposed in all likelihood in the Rule V draft but this way Minnesota gets first dibs. October 27: The Orioles trade minor league SS Jonatan Vizcaino (.254, 5, 22 in AA Asheville) to the Cubs for OF Steve Fenney (.234, 4, 13). Vizcaino is only 24 so it's feasible I might need to do a name-change but I kind of doubt it. Fenney's a 31 year old backup outfielder who's been with the Cubs for a little over 2 seasons and could fit in as a platoon bat in Baltimore. Vizcaino is pure roster filler, a guy who doesn't yet have to count against anyone's 40 man roster. October 28: The White Sox trade P Tim Anderlik (6-12, 4.00) to the Padres for OF/1B Greg Cowan (.225, 11, 45). This is a move for two guys who need to explore new horizons. Anderlik won 15 games in 1970 but has been 15-27 with an ERA well over 4 since. Coming back for him is Cowan, who's shown signs of competence in the past and I guess did hit 11 dingers for the Pads last year. The White Sox situation in left is not the greatest so he'll get every chance to show what he can do in the Americna League. ## News October 22: It took like 4 days for the game to realize that we'd finally turned over into the offseason. UGH. Anyway, retirements! Atlanta: Two guys left officially: RP Mikhail Baryshnikov (6-3, 3.76), whose promising career was cut short by a torn UCL. Baryshnikov, a ballet dancer in his "regular" career, decided that enough was enough. C Danny Coyle also retired after spending 1972 as the team's de facto bullpen coach, appearing in just 11 games for the club. He finishes his career with 621 hits, a .242 average, and 2 All-Star tickets, both with the expansion Mets (in '63 and '66). Matthew Levario (.087, 2, 4) was cut by the Rangers in May so didn't appear in any team records; however, when he announced his retirement the Braves retires his number (#26). Levario ends his career with 447 career homeruns (4th all-time) and 1250 RBIs (12th). Boston: WOW I did not see this one coming! Sandy Hinojosa (6-4, 3.67, 17 Sv), who I was 100% counting on to be an integral member of the Red Sox' bullpen again in 1973, announced his retirement. Hinojosa is a 2-time Cy Young Award winner and 8-time All-Star with a 216-148 career record. I wish the game utilized pitchers more before I took it over; guy looks like he should have won at least 250 to me. 35 year old Shunichi Zeniya (no record) also decided not to come back from a torn UCL he suffered in spring training. He'd spent most of 1971 in AAA as a swingman so the writing was on the wall here. Chicago (A): Raul Andrade (1-0, 8.89) was pretty bad this year, with 28 earned runs (34 total) allowed in 28.1 innings pitched. I'm not sure he'd have made the Sox out of spring training anyway; this wya, there's no decision to be made. Andrade was 40-64, 4.17 in his career; hey, someone has to be a jobber even in the MLB. Chicago (N): PH/RF Mike Starratt (.294, 0, 3), who got himself back into the major leagues after 2 years stuck in the minor leagues, called it quits. He was a part-time guy and pinch-hitter for the Indians and A's throughout the 60s. The 10th overall pick in the draft in 1958, he never quite lived up to that top=billing promise and finished his 10 year career with 558 hits, 56 HRs, and a .268 average. Cleveland: I *think* Eddie Sanchez (0-1, 6.05) might have said something about this? Anyway, he was bad and only got into 15 games with the Tribe this year, shuttling between the majors and AAA most of the year. Houston: SP Douglas Sweetapple was a back of the rotation guy and a prospect for the Astros in the 60s, although he's barely played in the majors since 1967. He called it quits with a career 40-52, 3.67 record. Kansas City: In a previous life, Joe Field (1-1, 6.87) had been a mid-rotation guy for the Pirates in the 60s with 5 straight seasons of 200 or more IP and 3 All-Star appearances. He last started 30+ games in 1966 and had been trying to go through a second life as a reliever. He was good in that role for KC and Milwaukee in '71 but fell apart last year and earned his release in June. Fields finishes with a lifetime record of 89-91 with a 3.50 ERA. Los Angeles: P Arthur Wood (0-1, 11.00) was awful this year after being pretty OK in 30 games in middle relief in 1971 (1-1, 2.72). I guess this was it for the 36 year old, who was a mainstay in the other LA team's (California's) rotation from 1964-1966. He has an expansion-pitcher 31-55 record with a 4.15 ERA. Milwaukee: 27 year old Landon Whittier (0-2, 9.38), at one time the 5th overall pick in the draft and the #6 rated prospect in baseball (midseason 1966), retired after a singularly awful start to the season with the Brewers. In spite of his age he didn't find another taker after the Brew Crew released him on September 29 and decided to hang up his spikes instead of deal with an NRI to spring training. Minnesota: Well, one key veteran won't be trying to run it back one more time in 1973: P Victor Ruiz (3-2, 4.14), who was not super effective as a swingman this year, decided he's retiring at the age of 35 with a career record of 123-94 and a 3.72 ERA, all of it with the Twins. He made the All-Star Game way back when the Twins were still the Senators in 1960 when he went... 6-6, 3.82, mostly in relief. Maybe he had a bad second half? Montreal: 1B Armando Munoz (.227, 3, 13), who had a career... surgeance when the Expos named him their Opening Day starter in 1969, retired after falling out of the lineup in 1972 and getting released at the end of June. He'd never had more than 129 at-bats in a single year but from 1969 to 1971 he played at least 125 games each year and hit a total of 83 HRs for the Expos. He is currently the team's all-time leader in games (486), hits (502), and HRs. All those will surely be broken over the next several years but hey, a franchise has to start somehwere. New York (N): Tom Owens (4-1, 1.66) had announced this was going to happen during the season so it's no surprise, although the Mets definitely made use of him last year in 11 games and 6 starts. Owens retires with a record of 155-127 and a 3.29 ERA, most of that with the Phillies (89-76, 3.35) and the Orioles (53-43, 3.09). Speaking of Owenses, Andy Owens, who was the Mets' 4th outfielder in their magical 1969 season, retired after playing for the independent St. Cloud Rox in '72. He wasn't able to live up to the promise he showed with a .265 average and 29 extra-base hits in 264 at-bats in '69: instead he hit just .196 in '70, was traded to the Expos that offseason, and and appeared in just 12 games with his new team before earning his release. Several guys who saw their last time with the Mets retired: SP Octavio Vargas (2-4, 3.90) finishes up with a 234-227 record, a real workhorse. 3B Nick Hawkinson (.143, 0, 3), who never quite became the savior the Mets were hoping for at 3rd, finishes with 2415 hits and 189 HRs. LF John Everhart (.226, 3, 9) cratered in 1971 and retired here when he was only kind of meh in his comeback. He had 1193 hits over the course of his 12 year career with 158 HRs and a .260 average. CF Brian Dees (.191, 0, 1) probably could have found a place to compete this year but let's face it, he was pretty much done. Finally, Joe Beane (4-9, 6.12) didn't find any takers after picking up his release in September and, following two very bad seasons (he was 10-13, 4.82 in '71), called it a day. He finishes iwth a 77-73, 3.57 record, all with the Mets. Pittsburgh: Bong-Ok Park (2-1, 3.34), primarily known as a co-closer for the Angels for one year ('69) before falling apart, retired. I kind of saw this one coming at least. Park didn't pitch at all in '71 but was pretty OK in '72. He'd still have been in a real battle to earn playing time at all in '73. St. Louis: SP Jimmy McCauley (2-1, 3.76) is another guy who decided, at age 37, not to come back from an arm injury that robbed him of his 1972 season. It would have been a tough road to get innings anyway for the 11 year vet, who got 47 of his career 98 wins since 1969. San Diego: SP Alfredo "Demon" Lopez (0-1, 4.91) got into just 2 starts before a tendon in his elbow snapped, costing him the season and, as it happens, his career. Lopez finishes with a 97-90 record with a 3.15 ERA with 88 of those wins and his lone All-Star appearance in Baltimore. San Francisco: RP Matt Bailey, who tore his rotator cuff in April, officially retired. He's only 26 years old and had come off of a decent 2-2, 2.80 season in middle relief in 1971. He got into just 4 games in '72 and finishes with a grand total of 54 games pitched, 2 of them starts, and a 2.52 ERA. Texas: 3B Killian Bychyk (.000, 0, 0), who got the briefest cup of coffee after toiling in the minors for the last 4 years, retired. Bychyk was mostly a starter for the Reds in the 60s before they cut him loose in '69. He has a career .215 BA so you can kind of see why. Also he is a known Canadian. ## Teams in Review
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Hall Of Famer
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November 1972
## Standings / Recap / Comments
I'm running this for a month, mostly doing trades but also there are a bunch of awards to announce! This feels like a good cutoff point as well as the Rule V draft is on November 27 and there is a CERTAIN large trade on its way on that day, too. ## Major Transactions October 30: The A's traded LF Raul Bueno (.291, 2, 16) and minor league OF <redacted> (.248, 2, 18 in rookie ball) to the Rangers for RP Doug Ellis (3-0, 1.19, 7 Sv). I wish the game did PTNBL. Granted, usually they're either a means of getting around draft rules (which doesn't seem to be the case here; the real-life PTNBL was Brant Alyea, who's a rough comp for Bueno here). Anyway, this is a pretty big haul for a reliever in the 70s but Ellis was pretty good last year and the A's a. need pitching and b. have a glut of outfielders now. <Redacted> is their 3rd highest rated OFer, although he's pretty far from hitting the majors and kind of looks like he'll be a 1B/DH by the time he gets there. October 31: The Brewers traded SP Danny Plaunt (15-10, 3.08), SP Chris Olivares (8-19, 3.46), CL Matt Brock (8-6, 2.53, 18 Sv), and P Jonas Youngblood (6-12, 3.25) to the Phillies for SP Marius Gaddi (11-16, 3.95), IF Francisco Carrasco (.214, 7, 21), and minor league LF Billy Ocean (.316, 9, 26 for A Spartanburg). So... yeah, a big oooold trade. The Brewers move their entire pitching staff for Gaddi, Carrasco, who's basically a warm body, and 22 year old Billy Ocean, the Phillies' 1st round pick in this year's amateur draft. This was 100% a white flag trade although frankly I think I might value Plaunt as a future starter over Gaddi. On the other hand, Gaddi does have that 27 win season and a bad team like the Brewers are exactly who should be playing that lottery. November 1: The Royals purchased minor league RP Carlos Hernandez (6-3, 3.32, 6 Sv in AAA Charleston) for $10,000. Hernandez has a grand total of 1 game pitched in the majors, a start in 1971. He's just a victim of numbers in Pittsburgh and maybe he'll get a bigger / existant role in Kansas City. November 2: The Indians traded minor league 2B <redacted> (.304, 10, 55 in A Reno) to the Royals for P Miguel Chavez (13-9, 4.17). Chavez had a winning record! Hey! It's an actual deal where Cleveland is bring in vet help! I kind of hope this prospect doesn't debut before he turns 25 because his OOTP-given name is "Remington Hegge". He's 23 and still in the California League so it's possible! The scouts still like him though. November 2: The Braves traded 3B Vicente Luna (.248, 15, 69) and SP Julio Sandoval (10-12, 3.26) to the Mets for SP Ernesto Carrillo (9-15, 4.02) and RP Rick Legere (2-5, 4.46). The Mets and aging 3rd basemen: name a more iconic duo. Mark Hamill posted an OBP of .289 last year so he'll be competing for a roster spot now. This does leave the Braves without a 3rd baseman, although they have a guy who had a great 1972 in the minor leagues, Bill Wallace (.335, 6, 26). Julio Sandoval returns to a kind of broken Mets starting rotation where he led the league in ERA in 1969. Legere was awful in '72 but very good with St. Louis the year before and Carrillo, well, has long been an interesting pitcher. November 6: The Expos traded OF Matt Williams (.253, 16, 42) to the Cardinals for OF Rory Gallagher (.277, 10, 37 in AAA Tulsa). Williams outproduced what Gallagher did in AAA, in the major leagues, but Williams is almost a decade older so the move makes a kind of sense for Montreal. For the Cardinals, Williams should be the Cardinals' best defensive corner outfielder they've had in years, and he's a good hitter too. November 12: The White Sox signed 34 year old Mexican League superstar Pedro Castrejon (.324, 33, 78). Castrejon is old but he was really really good last year after kind of appearing out of nowhere in 1971. He looks like he could slot right on in as a DH if that power translates to the major leagues. November 21: The Cubs traded CF Sammy Hagar (.317, 9, 33 at AAA Wichita) to the A's for P Chris Wilson (9-9, 3.95). These two teams just looooove to trade with each other. Hagar is a solid prospect in center, albeit 25, but the Cubs have a guy there right now in Alex Vallejo as well as a couple of younge prospects in Terry Pratchett and "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler. Wilson is a craft vet who had an off year last year but had sub-3.00 ERAs in both '70 and '71. November 24: The Yankees traded RP Will Wright (2-3, 3.74) and OF Alan Rickman (.202, 3, 8) to the A's for LF Adam Groves (.211, 12, 41). Groves had a bad season last year like half the guys in the league but has been really good in the recent past and he does that annoying walking thing the Yankees love so much. They're sending Wright, who was very meh in middle relief, and Rickman, who looks evil enough to be a Yankee but is rumored to be kind of a nice guy. ## News October 30: The Gold Glove awards are out! I've already pretty well talked about these guys so I'll try and be brief for once: American League ------------------- P: Justin Kindberg, BOS (1st) C: Texas Josh Lewis, OAK (2nd) 1B: Alex Canales, OAK (4th) - and a clear winner even if he did only start 109 games for the A's 2B: Joey Ramone, DET (1st) 3B: Marco Perez, BAL (5th) - Chase Young was sliiightly better and won last year but he did so because Perez didn't play SS: Oniji Handa, BOS (8th) OF: Bobby Kaplan, CLE (1st) - I don't know, maybe a flukey award but his ZR was among the tops for AL CFs (5.4, which, granted, is not high) OF: Norm Hodge, TEX (8th) - His numbers didn't really pop out but he's a legacy and his ratings are still veeeery high OF: Jun Kim, BOS (6th) - I waffled between him and former teammate Troy Brown; in the end, I decided that, like Perez, it's his trophy to lose when he plays enough National League ------------------ P: Rogelio Salinas, LAD (2nd) C: Doug Connally, PIT (1st) - like I noted in his write-up, he's not graded suuuuper well but he threw out 44.7% of runners 1B: Willie Morales, MON (1st) - First was wiiide open this year. Alex Canales won from 1968-1970 but he's not there. I awarded it to the 2nd year player over the Cubs' Antonio Lopez, the 1971 winner, because frankly Morales was a lot better 2B: Pedro Ortiz, CIN (3rd) 3B: Sean Gabekm CHC (5th) SS: Brian Wilcox, "STL" (5th) - Wilcox was traded to the A's in the final month but was an absolute beeeeeeast through August OF: Ed O'Neill, SD (1st) - To get an idea of how light it was for CFs in the AL, O'Neill is the #2 guy and he had a 9.4 ZR. Rookie or no, great season OF: Danny Seligman, SF (3rd) - Seligman was +13.9, which is around where I usually expect to see top CFs if I'm being honest OF: Paul Kahl, MON (1st) - I've been hard on Kahl because he's like a tweener or something. He was also worth +14.9 ZR between the two OF corners. Pretty good October 31: The Rolaids Relief Award winners are announced. Back in the day Rolaids used a really simple algorithm to figure these out: 2 * relief wins + saves. I do the same... National League -------------------- 1. Alec "Hawk" Cosby (7-5, 1.84, 32 Sv). This is the 28 year old's first award and man, he deserved it. The real question is, can I Mike Marshall him over the next couple years (note: I doubt it; Cosby lacks the stamina)? 2. Jesse Kelly, CHC (8-5, 2.76, 28 Sv). Fantastic comeback year for Kelly, who posted a 4.90 ERA for the Yankees last season and looked like he might have been out of a job. 3. Geoff Saus, NYM (8-5, 1.58, 27 Sv). Imagine how much Saus could have done for a good team. Le biggo snubberino: Pirates' ace Paz Lemus (9-4, 2.32, 25 Sv) just barely missed out here. I guess he was tied with Saus, technically speaking, but Saus was Eckersley-esque (who?) and Lemus, while also great, was not quuuuuite at that level. American League --------------------- 1. Willis Chavez, OAK (7-4, 2.75, 27 Sv). This is also Chavez' first RR award; in fact, his previous high in saves was 20 so this is the first time he was even close. 2. Montay Luiso, BAL (5-6, 2.46, 27 Sv). I don't know what's with that won-lost record! But Luiso is a 3-time ugy who totally would have won his 4th RR if he'd just pulled another game or two out. 3. Jake Duckett, CLE (10-4, 22 Sv). Yeah, he's there because of all the relief wins. November 1: And the Silver Sluggers! American League -------------------- P: Danny Plaunt, MIL (.190, 1, 10, 1st). The last-ever SS for the AL! Although Plaunt will have the chaaaance to win again in the NL given yesterday's blockbuster trade. C: Texas Josh Lewis, OAK (.287, 18, 73, 2nd). Lewis is kind of good at baseball. 1B: Ernesto Garcia, CLE (.296, 68, 166, 2nd). The rest of the AL first basemen very kindly stepped aside, hitting-wise, to make this one easy. I mean, Alice Cooper is the 2nd best power hitter in the AL and he's also a 1B so maybe not... 2B: Aloha Dan Gilmet, MIN (.321, 9, 60, 4th) 3B: Jose "Joker" Ayala, DET (.260, 20, 74, 2nd) SS: Justin Ramey, MIN (.247, 10, 49, 1st). Not gonna lie, I veeeery nearly gave this to Oniji Handa after ragging on his offense all year... LF: RJ Dominguez, KC (.251, 19, 77). I guess I could have handed this to Cooper, who played 39 games in left. But I didn't. CF: Alvin Romero, DET (.296, 4, 41, 48 SB, 3rd). More like Silver Sneakers amirite??? RF: Tony Danza, KC (.338, 7, 50, 34 SB, 1st) National League --------------------- P: Billy Ording, PHI (.393, 4, 16, 1st). Ording's a career .298 hitter so... Plaunt probably doesn't have a great chance to repeat. C: John Stuart, STL (.263, 15, 52, 6th). It was kind of a meh year for catchers and I just about awarded this to the Mets' Jason Bushon (.245, 19, 71). Stuart's won it 6 times to Bushon's 1. Like it or not, legacies matter. 1B: Justin Stone, LAD (.257, 33, 95, 10th) 2B: Paul McCartney, SD (.266, 32, 94, 2nd). Two years, two SS awards. 3B: Mike Galeana, STL (.217, 32, 87, 2nd). I hemmed and hawed over Galeana, who was chasing .200 midway through the year, but HRs and RBIs don't lie. SS: Jeremy Taylor, CHC (.246, 35, 100, 4th). Yeah, he moved off the position in the 2nd half but nobody in the NL was close to what he did. LF: Justin Lawson, PIT (.272, 19, 84, 2nd). There were a couple guys - Rafael Disla comes to mind - who might have had better raw nummbers but Lawson was the #3 man for the pennant winners. CF: George Foreman, HOU (.313, 19, 76, 1st) RF: Jaden Weaver, CIN (.234, 32, 88, 2nd). Surprised he's only won this one other time. I guess Henry Riggs was taking them all for a while. November 2: And now, onto the Rookies of the Year! I'll be honest... I just eyeball these. I have a couple of views set up that don't include WAR so I have no real clue if these guys are actually good according to semi-modern stats or not (I mean, I know they are but you know what I mean). National League -------------------- 1. Steven Tyler, SP, SD (15-14, 3.55). Honestly it was a pretty light rookie class in the NL this year. George Foreman didn't qualify because he played too much in 1971 and there were just a lot of guys who weren't all that good. Tyler had a 93 ERA+ but led all rookies in wins so that's nice at least. 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, SP, SF (12-12, 3.19). Abdul-Jabbar might have the better future ahead of him but he only started 29 games. He did well, don't get me wrong! Some of the doing-well is tempered by windy Candlestick Park. 3. Robin Gibb, 3B, LAD (.260, 13, 49). Californians swept the NL Rookie places this year. Gibb was... fine, like, those are league-average 3B numbers. Now I'll check WAR and it'll say that he had like a 3.5 or something (a 3.2 haha) but does that look like a ROY statline? Because it doesn't to me. American League ----------- 1. Tony Danza, OF, KC (.338, 7, 50, 34 SB). Now this. THIS is what a ROY looks like. Danza led the league in average, hits, triples, and on-base perentage. He's not one of these 29 year old "rookie" rookies either: man's just 24 years of age and if you want to ask who's the boss... well, the answer is him. 2. Frank Abagnale, C, BAL (.284, 10, 51). The AL has produced 2 really great catchers in 2 years. Abagnale could have won the ROY in a normal year with those numbers. Unfortunately for him, Tony Danza also had his rookie season in '72. 3. Billy Crystal SP, TEX (13-15, 2.86). Sure, the won-lost record is trash but Crystal was actually really good. Now if he can only get himself som run support... November 4: I found a much more complicated algorithm that I started using for the Cy Young last year. Here are the winners! American League --------------------- 1. Michael Pesco, BOS (24-10, 2.62). As I did the write-ups I took one look at this guy's year and was like "oh yeah, that's your Cy Young". Pesco was 1st in wins, 2nd in Ks, and 8th in ERA. He also led the league in walks but things like this happen when you've got stuff like he does. This is the 28 year old Pesco's 3rd Cy Young; he also won in 1966 (20-8, 1.92) and 1968 (17-8, 2.00). He already has a record of 107-64 with a 2.51 ERA and 23 career shutouts. 2. Jose Martinez, CLE (22-7, 2.36). Martinez pitched around 60 fewer innings but was more effective. I'll just let the algo speak for itslef. He also came kind of out of nowhere: the 27 year old's ML record previous to this year was 6-6. It was a legit Cy Young season though: among other things Martinez led the AL in K rate with 8.2/9 innings. 3. Edgar Molina, DET (21-11, 3.10). Molina was definitely hurt by playing in Detroit: his ERA was under 3 (2.95) away from Tigers Stadium but 3.27 in it. He was also 13-5 away compared to 8-6 at home. This is still the 3rd best pitcher in the AL, mind you. National League --------------------- 1. Tony Rivera (23-13, 2.57). I could have sworn that Rivera killed his chances with a 4-4 mark from September 1 onwards. I guess the lead was too big and he just did too many things, including tying the all-time shutouts record of 9. Surprisingly, Rivera's only made the All-Star Game twice, the last 2 seasons. He's 29 and has even more wins than Michael Pesco: 113-82, but less hardware to show for it. 2. DJ Cheeves, PIT (22-9, 2.48). Old Money Cheeves was on this year. Many other years, this would have been a Cy Young type season. He also made the All-Star game for only the 3rd time in his career and after a 5 year layoff. To be fair TOOOOO BEEEEE FAAAAAAIR he was kind of bad from 1968-1971: 40-55 with an ERA in the high 3s. Kudos to the Bucs for sticking with the guy, I guess. 3. Fernando Apolonio, LAD (20-10, 1.85). He couldn't quite keep up his first-half pace in setting the all-time ERA record but the 8 year veteran nevertheless had a career year that, continuing this trend, included his first-ever All-Star appearance. November 5: Last but not least, the MVP! I kind of eyeballed these. I did find an "algorithm" that's basically "give one point each to six categories" and I kind of used that, which is a big part of why the NL winner is... well, you'll have to read. American League ---------------------- 1. Ernesto Garcia, CLE (.296, 68, 166). Like there was ever any doubt. All Garcia did was set the all-time HR record one year after tying it. His new record to chase is RBIs: he finished 3 short of Justin Stone's 169 from 1964. Let's be realistic here: 1972 was already a pretty beastly season and I'd be amazed if Garcia repeated it. Still, you saw it and here it is. 2. Alice Cooper, CHW (.261, 44, 96). This was an awwwwfully good 2nd-banana year. Cooper's 24 and should hold his head high. This will not be the last tme he competes for this award. He did miss a couple weeks at the end of the year - not that that would have made any difference of course. 3. Tony Danza, KC (.338, 7, 50). No, these aren't MVP numbers, exactly, but Danza did lead the league in hits and average; these are 100% 3rd in the MVP vote numbers. ## Teams in Review
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02-17-2024, 11:21 PM
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#270 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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Winter Meetings 1972
## Standings / Recap / Comments
HERE COMES THE BIG STUFF! ## Major Transactions November 27: The Rangers claimed 1B/OF Chris Seek (.256, 3, 15) off of waivers from the Giants. Seek hit .310 as a 24 year old for San Francisco back in 1969 but has seen his average drop every year since. He's still probably better than anything Texas currently has at the position. November 27: The Astros traded minor league 2B <redacted> (.281, 4, 38) and minor league P <redacted> (11-14, 4.50 in A Cocoa Beach) to the Mets for 1B Joshua "Superman" Waltenbery (.245, 24, 78). This one's gonna huuuuurt for New York fans. They get the #57 prospect in <the pitcher> and <the middle infielder> is pretty close to major league ready and could compete with Rule V pick Bora Dugic at the position. Of course it leaves a gaping hole at first base but the Mets are not contenders. The Astros, meanwhile, filled a big, big hole both at first base and the cleanup slot and essentially walk away from the Jaden Weaver trade with this. November 27: The Indians traded P Noah Bando (3-3, 2.74) to the Mets for minor league P Pablo Corrales (6-9, 5.62 at AAA Tidewater) and minor league P <redacted> (4-5, 4.05 at AAA Tidewater). Maaaan the Mets are bad trading partners for this. They were scraping the dregs last year at the major league level and let's just say their organizational depth at pitcher is... wanting. Corrales is 22 but several years away: he had good K numbers but allowed 31 HRs in 157 innings, hence the high ERA. <redacted> is probably closer but even there I only left his name out because the Indians will probably be bad enough to have to use him. New York gets back Bando, bringing their count of under-30 pitchers on the major league roster to 2 guys now. November 27: The Indians traded 1B Ernesto Garcia (.296, 68, 166) and 2B TJ Pritchett (.266, 6, 19) to the Yankees for C John Lennon (.259, 4, 30), SS German Ybarra (.180, 5, 16), 3B Nick Hodzic (.278, 15, 52 at AAA Syracuse), and minor league SS Massimo D'Alema (.272, 1, 8 at A Fort Lauderdale). This was the big one! To be fair to the Indians they extracted a pretty penny from the Yankees: Lennon and Hodzic are pretty much locks to start (Hodzic taking over at first base) and both Ybarra and D'Alema will be in the shortstop mix with Mitt Romney. The GM reactions actually got to the point to where I had to throw in the perfectly-decent TJ Pritchett in as a kicker. Either way, though, the Yankees did in fact acquire the best hitter in baseball. You would be SURPRISED to note that fan interest in Cleveland crashed following this trade. November 28: The Astros trade 2B Jon Sherron (.340, 3, 17) and minor league 3B Bubba James (.218, 1, 9 at AAA OKC) to the Cardinals for C Jonathan Hyde (.213, 1, 12). Sherron will likely compete for the 2B job, as scouts are really pessimistic about Tom Depew's ability to rebound from his .215/6/23 season. He's not a great fielder but that should make him right at home in St. Louis. Houston gets back a guy in Hyde who himself can compete with a guy who had an awful 1972 - catcher Dan Rigdon (.193, 3, 38). November 28: The Reds trade minor league P Hugo Reyes (5-10, 5.25 at AAA Indianapolis) to the Cardinals for minor league OF Dylan Dockery (.194, 4, 16 at AAA Tulsa). This is halfway about two teams trading from (relative) strength to fill a weakness and half teams swapping out guys who weren't cutting it in the current organization. November 28: The Angels trade SP Ken Hansen (14-16, 2.46), OF Lou Morgenstern (.228, 11, 60), and minor league OF Anatoly Karpov (.300, 16, 51 at A St. Cloud) to the Dodgers for OF Paul Stewart (.262, 12, 50), 3B Larry Hunter (.255, 2, 15 at AAA Albuquerque), P Carlos Figueroa (8-18, 3.43), P Derek Massey (1-1, 3.86), and C Mauricio Alvarez (.181, 5, 15). Another blockbuster! This one is primarily about payroll cutting for California: although this only dropped the payroll by $44K, it also spreads it out among several guys who should individually be easier to trade. The Dodgers add Hansen, a top-line starter, and Morgenstern, who was kind of good with the Angels in spite of the low average, and don't give up a whole lot. November 29: The White Sox trade P Obe Olthof (13-12, 3.74) to the Giants for OF Carl Weathers (.214, 14, 57) and P Bibi Netanyahu (0-1, 6.06). Mostly this is a trade of two more guys who didn't work out for their now-former clubs. Olthof will be on his 3rd team in 3 years and will hope to show better promise as a guy in the back of the rotation instead of a #1 starter. Weathers just plain didn't look all that great last year (also RIP). November 29: The Twins trade CL Travis Livingston (8-7, 2.10, 24 Sv) to the Cardinals for RF Gilles Villeneuve (.259, 4, 18) and RP Paul Boerger (1-1, 1.57). The Cards are quietly building up a pretty nice looking bullpen. Livingston's only 25 and was a lot to give up but the Twinkies did get back a potential RF of the future in Villeneuve. November 30: The Brewers signed RP Montay Flores (6-4, 1.07, 22 Sv with Yucatan) out of the Mexican League, because why not? Milwaukee is hard pressed for pitching and this guy is it. November 30: The Tigers purchased OF Alejandro Cortes (.247, 3, 15) from the Twins. Cortes, 35, doesn't really have a place with the Twins anymore, and the Tigers, WS winners or no, have a bit of a gaping hole in left right now. November 30: Cincinnati purchased CF Jake Leone (.202, 2, 10) from the Padres. Leone was San Diego's up-and-coming starter as recently as 1971 but a bad season and the emergence of Ed O'Neill spelled the writing on the wall for him there. Cincy is in "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" mode in center. November 30: The Indians traded P Jake Callaway (3-3, 3.82) to the Rangers for 1B Phil Stevens (.200, 6, 25). Cleveland has a big gigantic hole at first now for some reason and... well, Callaway wasn't very good but hey, he could stick as a specialist vs righties or something. November 30: The Cubs traded RP Eddy Grant (8-1, 1.72 at AAA Wichita), P Bill Lucas (17-10, 3.85), and minor league P <redacted> (3-5, 4.63 at AA Midland) to the Twins for P Mike Larsen (17-8, 2.85). The Twins' rotation... gets older with Lucas but also the staff as a whole gets younger with the guys added in to sweeten the pot. Chicago moves on Lucas, who has pitched a lot of innings for them but leaves them with a 4.04 ERA in 4+ seasons with the club. November 30: The Mets traded PH/OF Gabe Martinez (.260, 1, 18) to the Padres for P Brian Johnson (0-0, 1.65). Hey, Martinez is clutchy, I guess. Neither side is exactly getting a lot and neither side is giving up all that much in return. November 30: The Reds traded 1B Alonzo Rivera (.302, 7, 52) and P Joe Hagan (8-13, 4.48) to the Royals for RF RJ Dominguez (.251, 19, 77) and P Rick Rodriguez (6-6, 2.74). Rivera's one of these guys who could be a 10 year starter in the right place and that right place could be Kansas City. The Reds get a chance to unload Joe Hagan on someone and still get value back, as Dominguez is a guy who really should be starting. December 30: The Twins traded 3B Mike Brookes (.204, 13, 34) to the Phillies for 3B Matt Highfield (.303, 1, 28), P Manley Carter 6-5, 4.61), and P Matt Brock (8-6, 2.53, 18 Sv). Brookes had a really bad year and, former MVP or no, the Twins didn't want to wait around to see if the drop-off was permanent. They bring back Highfield, who is 9 years younger, at least, plus some pitching help, including a replacement for Travis Livingston. December 30: The Indians traded RF Nelson Vargas (.290, 14, 54) and minor league C Danilo Bonana (.313, 13, 56 at A Reno) to the Phillies for RF Bobby Corley (.237, 10, 23) and RF Brandon Anderson (.243, 9, 35). As I'd WARNED ABOUT in the Cleveland write-up, they wanted to cut salary and Vargas was on the block. The Phillies basically traded away the two parts they were trying to cadge together to make RF fit before they found John Belushi (who himself can easily move down to first base now). December 30: The Braves traded 1B Dante Chairez (.226, 28, 68) and minor league P <redacted> (10-17, 4.96 in AAA Richmond) to the Orioles for P Santos Rodriguez (16-10, 2.20), 1B/C Jon Hernandez (.254, 13, 67), minor league P <redacted> (1-1, 4.44 at A St. Paul), and minor league 3B <redacted> (.263, 6, 21 in rookie ball). It's a rare trade that both sides hate... the Braves get their ace in the rotation in Rodriguez but give up a looot for it. Never mind that era; <redacted> was in AAA as a 22 year old, which is saying a lot as it is. The Braves do at least get a replacement for first base: Hernandez is obviously no Dante Chairez but it's not a gaping hole now either. ## News November 27: Aaaaand we open with the Rule V Draft! 1. Milwaukee picks SP Kenny Jones (9-14, 2.45 at AAA ) from the Twins' organization. Like, Jones had a good year and all but he's 31. On the flip side, the Brewers are kind of desperate for pitching right now. 2. Cincinnati picks CF Gaudi Rodriguez (.257, 14, 45 at AAA Tulsa) from the Cardinals. Rodriguez is also on the older side and nothing special at 27. The Reds are not exactly well stocked in center field and Rodriguez will compete with Robert Hopkins (.254, 1, 10) for the job there. 3. The New York Mets pick SS Bora Dugic (.267, 17, 57 at AAA Toledo) from Detroit. Dugic is a pretty good player to just leave out like that but a. he's blocked in the Tigers' organization and b. he's not going to stick at shortstop. The Mets can get right on down to teaching him a new position though. 4. The Expos pick P Richard Dean Anderson (10-12, 2.54 at AAA Albuquerque) from the Dodgers. Hey, if I was choosing who freaking MacGyver would be, he'd be a toolsy infielder. I guess I can choose but I didn't. This guy's a 22 year old who throws some good heat but who fell out of the top 100 prospect rankings last year and wasn't going to break into this Dodgers' rotation any time soon. At least, that's my excuse for leaving him off the protected list. November 30: As you can see above, the Winter Meetings were a bit insaaaaaaaaane this year. A little recap of who made off the best and worst, at least according to last year's WAR: 1. New York Yankees +10.4 2. Atlanta +6.4 (apparently Jon Hernandez was a 3.2 WAR guy and Dante Chairez was only worth 1.4). 3. Philadelphia +6.3 (and that's with the game only counting Mike Brookes at 1.6 WAR) 4. Houston +4.1 5. St. Louis +3.5 20. Minnesota -5.5 (and again, that's with Brookes not counting for much) 21. Milwaukee -6.6 (hard to believe they had this much WAR to give up) 22. Cleveland -7.0 23. Kansas City -7.1 (RJ Dominguez was apparently worth 4.5 WAR last year) 24. Baltimore (in addition to losing Hernandez, Santos Rodriguez was worth almost 7 WAR last year, apparently, which is crazy) The quick and early returns: The Yankees are back in business, both Atlanta and Houston are working to push themselves ahead of the pack in the NL West, Minnesota, Cleveland, and Baltimore are waving white flags, and Milwaukee... could lose 110 games. ## Teams in Review
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02-18-2024, 12:16 PM
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#271 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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Offseason 1972-1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
Once the Winter Meetings ended, things got kind of back to normal, relatively speaking. ## Major Transactions December 1: The Reds traded P Garrett Elser (4-2, 3.81 at AAA Indianapolis) to the Rangers for C Viet Bieler (.155, 0, 6) and IF Jose Hernandez (.128, 2, 7). Elser barely played in the majors this year - 4 games, 5 IP, but both Bieler and Hernandez hit like pitchers last year. So a big old nothing for both sides, hooray! December 3: The Yankees signed Mexican League veteran Aitor de la Rosa (.320, 22, 71 at Yucatan). There sure were a lot of MLB quality guys who just kind of magically appeared at Yucatan a couple years ago... anyway, de la Rosa has got the power to be yet another bat in a suddenly-powerful Yankees lineup. December 7: Cleveland traded minor league 2B Dong-hak Park (.214, 5, 23 at AAA Portland) to the Expos for minor league 1B JR Cook (.237, 1, 8 at AAA Peninsula). I noticed when I was referring to players as "redacted" with brackets around them, BBCode was reading that as a tag or something and deleted them... so instead I'll just list the WRONG name and let the chips fall where they may! Anyway JR Cook was a 24 year old pinch-hitter so I don't think he'll be much more than depth anyway. Park, you might remember, started 44 games for the Twins in 1970 so he, like, technically has experience and stuff. The Expos will put him in the 2B mix. December 18: The Phillies traded PH/OF Ryan Ashbaker (.170, 1, 6) to the Cardinals for minor league OF Daniel Taylor (.256, 2, 8 at AAA Tulsa). Ashbaker will get a new chance with the Cardianals, who are suddenly a little bit light in the outfield now. Taylor's a 25 year old no-hoper who doesn't cost a roster spot. January 22: The Tigers traded P Richard Pulido (11-5, 2.72 at AAA Toledo) to the Expos for minor league P Armani Pinkney (2-2, 5.17 in AAA Peninsula). This was more of a "hey man, you've done well for the organization, here's a ticket to a place where you might play more" deal for Pulido than anything else. Pinkney played in 9 games in the majors in 1971 but was really bad in AAA last year and might be done. January 24: The Red Sox traded P Nate Aiken (2-2, 2.34 in AAA Louisville) to the Cardinals for P Franklin Medrano (0-0, 5.27). Ah, the offseason. A season when teams convince themselves they can fix other teams' messes. In this case, Aiken, the Red Sox' 4th round pick in 1967, has had some insane walk rates in the past that he's only just now looking like he's curtailing. His K rates are also way, way down from a 1970 season where he struck out 101 men in 106 innings in Louisville. Medrano is 2 years younger but was genuinely awful in the major leagues last year. January 29: The Phillies purchased P Parker Leonard (1-3, 6.82) from the Angels. Leonard was awful in the majors and the Angels are short on cash. He was really good at AAA Salt Lake City though (15-2, 2.20). February 1: The Royals traded minor league P Warren Key (7-9, 4.72 at AAA Omaha) to the Mets for minor league P Jon Creech (2-0, 4.61 at AAA Tidewater). Yeah, the Mets still have no pitching in their organization. Creech isn't any good; then again, neither is Key. February 1: The Cardinals traded P Joey Kramer (2-3, 3.76) to the Rangers for minor league P Nick Escabar (12-9, 3.56 in AAA Syracuse). Escabar had been previously purchased by the Rangers from the Yankees in September. I guess they didn't like what they saw or else they see more in the 22 year old Joey Kramer. Escabar can compete for the lefty specialist gig in his new place. February 1: The White Sox traded 1B JP Carter (.203, 7, 38 at AAA Tucson) to the Royals for OF Michael Kamen (.291, 4, 20 at AAA Omaha). Carter was baaaaad last year but was pretty OK in AAA in 1971 (.285, 2, 10 in 109 at-bats) so he'll get one more shot. Kamen was just plain stuck in a very crowded Royals' outfield that got even more crowdeder over the last year. ## News December 15: With nothing else to do this month, I have Hall of Famers to vote on. Here's my list / my chance to look into the OOTP history of this league... 1. Emmanuel Costa, C, BRK. Costa is an easy, easy choice. A 17 (17!!!) time All-Star, Costa was basically the Dodgers' man from the day he was called up in 1947 through 1965. He spent another could years in a backup role after that. This is a catcher who, amazingly, had 2,704 hits in his career with 1,025 runs score and 1,110 RBIs. This guy isn't just a Hall of Famer, he's the greatest catcher of all time. 2. Matt Clayton, RF, BAL. Clayton is another guy who played his whole career with one franchise and who also accompoanied them when they moved. In Clayton's case he came up with the St. Louis Browns in 1950 and stayed with them through their move to Baltimore, sticking around through the 1966 season. Clayton had 10 All-Star appearances, 11 Gold Gloves, the 1954 MVP (he went .334/36/121), 2,663 hits (5th all-time), 393 HRs (10th), and a career .299 average. 3. Jose Luquin, P, NYY. Luquin had a relatively short career but he was awwwwfully good when he played. He finished with a 204-133 record, 10 All-Star trips, 2 Cy Young Awards ('55 and '61 - he went 17-11, 2.93 and 16-4, 2.36), and won 5 World Series during his career, which was also entirely spent with one team. 4. Francisco Galtan, P, CHC. When I say Luquin had a short career, Galtan REALLY had a short career: just 148 career wins (against 89 losses) over a career that spanned from 1953 to 1966. That said, if there was a Sandy Koufax (who?) of this league, this guy was it: a 3 time Cy Young Award winner ('57, '58, and '61 - 17-8, 2.45, 23-9, 2.76, and 11-3, 2.57... that last of which... man, I don't know). Galtan never pitched more than 25 games in a season after 1958, his age-26 season. A real story of what could have been but IMO it was still enough. 5. Pat Card, RF, DET. This is probably an edge case but Card made the All-Star Game 6 times in his career, indicating to me that he was one of the star outfielders of the 1950s, and finished with a career .323 average, if only with 1,656 hits. Because OOTP gotta OOTP it decided to turn him into a pinch-hitter over once he turned 30: he never got more than 41 starts in a year after that point and his career dried up at age 35, although he still hit .338 in a very limited PH role for the Tigers that year. 6. Lazaro Hernandez, SP, PIT. This guy doesn't score super high via HOF Monitor standards but he was the face of the Pirates franchise in the 50s and 60s and a real workhorse. He finished with a career record of 226-194 with a 3.47 ERA and 503 career starts (2nd all-time). He made 5 All-Star trips, which is around my low end where I look at things (I geeeeenerally ask myself the Ken Keltner List when looking at guys and appearing in several ASGs are a good indicator that a guy was among the league's stars for a given era). He's got low HOF Standards (33) and hey, if he does make it this year (this is his 4th ballot; he got 54.8% in the '71 voting), he might be the worst HOFer, but it's not like this guy is Joe Tinker and if he is I'll just have to write a poem about him. He's got a faster fastball than any old man does Who am I talking about? Lazaro Hernandez Only six guys on my ballot. It's still a relatively new league. January 3: The HOF voting results are in! 3 guys made it in. The ballots are counted and the results are in. This year we will witness three players added to the Hall of Fame. Emmanuel Costa, Matt Clayton, and Lazaro Hernandez received the ultimate honor this year in being voted as the newest members of the Hall of Fame. The full voting results are included here. Players require 75% of ballots cast to be elected to the Hall, may stay on the ballot for up to 10 years if they receive at least 5% of the votes. Players must be retired for 5 years before they are eligible for induction to the Hall of Fame. C Emmanuel Costa 98.3 (1st year) Inducted HOF RF Matt Clayton 91.2 (2nd year) Inducted HOF SP Lazaro Hernandez 77.7 (4th year) Inducted HOF SP Jose Luquin 69.9 (2nd year) CL Sam King 49.0 (2nd year) 1B Ruben Vazquez 48.6 (9th year) SP Francisco Galtan 43.9 (2nd year) SP David Melton 38.2 (10th year) Dropped RF Pat Card 16.6 (5th year) RF Chris Seidel 14.5 (3rd year) SP Carlos Moreno 12.8 (2nd year) RP Justin Mueller 8.8 (1st year) SP Frank Yanez 7.1 (5th year) SS Alex Ortiz 6.8 (8th year) 3B Chris Anzalone 6.1 (2nd year) SP Chris Casillas 5.4 (3rd year) CF Henning Rasmussen 3.7 (4th year) Dropped SP Elias Hernandez 3.4 (1st year) Dropped SP Miguel Gonzalez 2.4 (1st year) Dropped RP Jeff Hall 1.7 (1st year) Dropped C Jesse David 1.4 (1st year) Dropped C Jose Flores 0.3 (1st year) Dropped RP Guy Pierce 0.0 (1st year) Dropped SP Eric Cartee 0.0 (1st year) Dropped David Melton dropped out after 10 years; to be honest, I'm most surprised that he got as much support as he did. The man just baaaarely made the 10 year cutoff, playing from 1949-1958, and finished with 84 wins. He was good in those 10 years but not, like, Addie Joss good, and this isn't the Deadball Era anyway when you could win like 250 games in 10 years. Otherwise I can't quibble with any of the guys who got in. Even in OOTPland the HOF voters won't unanimously put guys in I guess but oh well. Both Costa and Clayton got over 90% of their vote and Hernandez, well, all that counts is that he crossed the threshold. ## Teams in Review
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02-21-2024, 01:02 PM
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#272 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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Spring Training 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
Some people say that spring training means a lot. Others, not so much. I don't know. The standings: Code:
AL East W L Pct GB Boston 20 10 .667 - Detroit 16 14 .533 4 Milwaukee 16 14 .533 4 Cleveland 15 15 .500 5 New York 15 15 .500 5 Baltimore 14 16 .467 6 Code:
AL West W L Pct GB Chicago 19 11 .633 - Texas 17 13 .567 2 Oakland 13 17 .433 6 Minnesota 12 18 .400 7 KC 12 18 .400 7 California 11 19 .367 8 Code:
NL East W L Pct GB New York 17 13 .567 - Phil'delph 16 14 .533 1 St. Louis 16 14 .533 1 Pitt'bgh 14 16 .467 3 Chicago 13 17 .433 4 Montreal 10 20 .333 7 Code:
NL West W L Pct GB Cincy 19 11 .633 - San Diego 17 13 .567 2 San Fran 16 14 .533 3 Atlanta 16 14 .533 3 Los Ang'ls 15 15 .500 4 Houston 11 19 .367 8 ## Major Transactions February 7: The White Sox traded minor league P Dusty Collins (2-3, 5.40 at AAA Tucson) and mior league IF Rich Horwood (.333, 0, 4 at AAA Tucson) to the Giants for minor league P Cory Heape (6-9, 3.53 at A Decatur). The biggest deal here I guess you could say is that Heape won't cost the White Sox a spot on their 40-man whereas both Collins and Horwood have MLB experience, although at that both could probably make it through waivers if it came to that. February 14: The A's purchased 2B Dwayne Fraser (.238, 3, 21) from the Brewers. Fraser is now on his 3rd team in 3 years. He'll compete with Izzy Gaytan and Tyler Knight for the starting second base job. I don't know that he's got a great chance of winning it but he was pretty well pushed out of Milwaukee by the emergence of "19" year old James Hong. February 28: The Braves traded P Jake Cari (8-4, 2.15) to the Expos for P Frank Evans (14-9, 2.73). Cari was a veeery unlikely All-Star last year, which might have been what put the Expos over the edge in wanting to claim him. Evans was Montreal's #1 starter last year but let's be real here, it's Montreal. February 28: The Yankees traded minor league 1B Jim Rogers (.297, 0, 6 in AAA Syracuse) to the Pirates for minor league C Victor Betancourt (.229, 10, 37 at AAA Charleston). The Yankees, now without John Lennon, do need catching and Betancourt might compete so soon I'll have to change that ol' name of his. Rogers played quite a bit for Milwaukee in '71 as a pinch hitter and then... did the same for Syracuse last year. The Pirates are still dreadfully short of good hitting at first base. March 4: The Pirates signed PF/OF/1B Mike Grigg (.209, 3, 13) and 1B California Josh Lewis (.107, 1, 5). Grigg's primary job ought to be pinch-hitter and captain off the bench whereas Lewis will compete for the 1st base job. March 5: The Giants signed RF Frank Meneses (.179, 1, 2). As noted below, he sure looked cooked last year but the scouts say he can still get it going, and it's not like he's pushing anyone good out of right field at the moment. March 5: The Braves signed SS Gil Wilson (.076, 0, 2) to compete for the job with Bill Clinton. Wilson suuuure doesn't look like he's got much left. I guess we'll see. March 5: The Yankees sign CF Marc Ash (.183, 1, 8) to play centerfield. Like Meneses, Ash looked cooked last year but the scouts think otherwise. Spring training is a time for hope. March 8: Cleveland traded 3B Roberto Hernandez (.319, 2, 28) to the Rangers for P Lee Evans (3-5, 3.88) and P DJ Marrone (1-0, 1.17). I was going to trade Tommy Pron but he's injured and still being diagnosed, so we're going with Hernandez instead. He still fills a position of need and should slot right into the 3 hole in the Rangers' batting order. Evans had a bad year but is still a prized starter and Marrone could be good if he stays healthy this year. March 13: The Brewers claimed P Dave Zapata (1-2, 4.18) from the Orioles. The O's tried sneaking Zapata through waivers after Hector Giron was cleared to play. The Brewers, who owned him previously, snapped him up. Zapata was nothing special last year but is surely better as a lefty specialist than the guy they used last year, 22 year old Abraham Sarmiento (3-2, 6.42). March 17: The White Sox purchased minor league P Jon Teague (2-1, 2.02 at AAA Hawaii) from the Padres organization. Teague got into 8.2 innings in the majors last year and suuuuuucked to the tune of a 10.38 ERA. He wasn't even invited to spring training this year. Now he's down with Chicago for a couple weeks. March 24: The Indians traded LF Tommy Pron (.326, 16, 58) and SS Chris Grube (.185, 1, 6) to the A's for RF Richard Berman (.276, 3, 40) and 2B Tyler Knight (.210, 4, 29). The dismantling should be juuuuust about complete with this. Pron was traded to Texas but then came back last year, hit .326, and resigned for a lot of money. The writing was on the wall there. Cleveland gets back a poor man's Tommy Pron in Barman and also, potentially, some help at second base, as Sadegh Zibakalam was struggling in spring training. March 25: The Angels traded minor league C Johnny Becton (.343, 2, 10 at AA Shreveport) to the Tigers for 3B Ivan Hernandez (.300, 19, 49 at AAA Toledo). Becton is a nice looking prospect but is still a few years away whereas Hernandez, though only 3rd in the Tigers' 3B depth chart, should be able to step in and play right now, which is kind of a big deal because the Halos were facing having to use Travis Corley (.201, 3, 32) again after a disastrous 1972 season. March 26: The Dodgers purchased P Jon Douglas (4-9, 4.33, 18 Sv) from the Astros. Houston looked to have moved on from Douglas with the late-season emergence of Vince Bump (4-5, 2.06, 3 Sv). In LA he'll be a middle reliever pitching in lower leverage innings, which will hopefully help him to play better. March 27: The Padres purchased minor league C Pete Easter (.226, 8, 51) from the Cubs. Easter is pure organizational depth. If he ever plays in the major leagues, like, good for him and all but I'd be surprised. March 27: The Braves purchased SS Justin Henderson (.229, 1, 17) from the Dodgers. Henderson, 34, isn't a long-term fit and on a lot of teams he's not even a short-term fit, but with Bill Clinton scuffling in spring training (.122) the Braves need a guy who can at least be replacement level while they try for the division repeat. March 27: The Tigers traded minor league P Ergot Newman (9-8, 3.87 at AAA Toledo) and cash to the Twins for P Chris Benavides (14-19, 3.02). Detroit locks up their 4th spot in their rotation and the Twins get really and truly headed for a rebuild. Hey, you'd think they could squeeze out another division run in the weak AL West but this works too, I guess. March 27: The Brewers traded 3B Francisco Martinez (.224, 6, 24) to the Twins for P Angelo Ramos (11-12, 4.01). Speaking of rebuilds... Ramos was 20-2 in 1970 but got asked to throw a loooot of innings in '71 and that kind of looked like the end of him as a tryly effective pitcher. He's now a guy who relies on deception and control. He'll most likely be the #2 man in the Brewers' rotation because they don't have anything better to do. Martinez was somehow the team's starter for the last 2 years in spite of sub-.300 OBPs each season (a .255 last year, oof). This move means they will no longer be tempted by his presence. March 27: The Red Sox traded 2B Chris Moore (.207, 4, 17) and PH Matt Wilson (.200, 0, 6) to the Reds for minor league P Justin Vogel (0-0, 9.50 at AAA Indianapolis). Vogel had a rough time of it last year coming back from a partially torn labrum, although he's been doing a decent job in spring training. This move was really about the Red Sox moving away from Wilson and Moore, neither of whom looked to have much to do with the team going forward. March 28: The Expos purchased minor league C David Owen (.237, 3, 13) from the Astros. Owen isn't exactly a world-beater but Sam Rahn's looking washed and Montreal does need a backup. March 28: The Mets traded RF Jimmy Washington (.100, 1, 1) to the Rangers for RF Bubba Wilson (.212, 1, 14). The time seemed right to part ways with Washington, who'd won hearts and minds in '69 as the sidekick to Joshua Waltenberry. He's struggled since then and missed all but 17 games in 1972. Bubba Wilson hit .320 in 1971 and the Mets will hope to get some of that magic back. March 30: The Yankees sent P Jim Kenner (2-3, 4.02) to the Cardinals as part of a conditional deal. The conditions? I have no idea. Kenner was a weirdo All-Star pick in 1971 so even though he was trash for the Yankees last year, maybe he'll be worth something in St. Louis. April 2: Amidst a million other cutdowns the Reds offered Gaudi Rodriguez back to the Cardinals organizaiton. Rodriguez hit just .140 in spring training so, as tantalizing as he looked back in December, he wasn't ready. April 2: The Angels traded 2B Mauricio Mendez (.227, 8, 29) to the Indians for 3B Bobby Ramirez (.241, 13, 56) and 2B Luis Oropeza (.200, 8, 21). Congratulations! The dismantling is complete! The Angels go from weakness to strength at third while Cleveland is... just yikes there now. They do get Mauricio Mendez back who should be able to fit in... somewhere. April 2: The Royals traded minor league P "Reggie Love" (6-4, 2.60 at AA Jacksonville) for C Chris Campbell (.192, 3, 11). Iggy Pop (.218, 5, 35) beat out Campbell for the starting C job in San Fran fair and square and rather than keep a guy who might get disgruntled on the roster, SF is shipping him off for Love, who could be a back of the rotation piece but who's at least a couple years away. April 2: The Tigers traded RP Nate Khoury (2-4, 4.30) to the Pirates for minor league C Luke Burrell (.379, 3, 7). Khoury didn't make the Opening Day roster for Detroit and so a change of scenery was decided upon, although he'll probably start the year in AAA for the Pittsburgh organization as well. Burrell is a career backup in waiting but could be used sooner rather than later if Gianluigi Farinelli (.197, 7, 45) balks at his new backup role. April 3: The Tigers traded minor league C Alex Avila (.200, 9, 37 at AA Montgomery) to the A's for P Randy Nixon (10-11, 2.39 at AA Tucson). Nixon, who was "acquired" by the A's when they and the White Sox switched AAA affiliates, was one of the final cuts on the roster. The A's aren't getting much back for him but it's something, I guess. April 4: The Cardinals purchased OF Roger Greeno (.268, 5, 15 in AAA Wichita) from the Cubs. Greeno was another late cut who got DFA'd; rather than compete with the dregs of the league for him the Cardinals instead chose to buy Greeno to see if he can fill a pinch-hitter / 5th outfielder role. April 4: The Astros purchased Ben Aldridge (.311, 19, 52) from the Expos. Aldridge was another cutdown casualty but the Astros like him as a backup / insurance in case Jesse Lockhart's (.231, 8, 49) last year is the real deal. ## News March 1: Spring training opens! And with it, some TRAINING CAMP BATTLES! Atlanta: Bill Wallace (.335, 6, 26 at AAA Richmond) will compete with Pedro Almodovar (.191, 0, 6) at third base, although this is less of a "competition" and more of a move to see if Wallace can handle the glove there. Bill Clinton won't just be handed the job. I'm inviting Bill Wilson, he of the 6-60 run in St. Louis last year, to training camp to compete with him. Chris Ward (.267, 11, 35) had a good year last year and all but good teams aren't sentimental. With Henry Riggs moving to left field, Ward will compete with Wolf Blitzer (.322, 7, 23) for the right field job. Baltimore: SS Jon "Lucky Number" Blevins (.240, 5, 47) might have lost a step in the field and it's always a good idea to Always Compete anyway so young Eichi Yazawa (.217, 2, 7 in 23 September at-bats) will compete for the starting job. In LF, Ralph May (.230, 7, 17) and Mike Nichols (.300, 0, 18) will duke it out and could wind up as a platoon. A Nichols and May platoon! Hey hey! Frank Beard (.248, 6, 21) and Matt Nugent (.209, 8, 32) are competing in center primarily because I don't just want to hand Nichols the job outright. I think it's still his unless he absolutely craps the bed. TJ Corron (.246, 4, 46) wasn't great last year and so he'll face off against Steve Fenney (.234, 4, 13) in a battle of who can come back. Boston: C Alan Thicke (.178, 1, 2) has the inside track to the starting catcher job but don't count long-time incumbent Jeremy Dolak (.214, 1, 24) out just yet. I'm moving Brian Johnson (.294, 1, 14) to DH to try and keep him healthy but that doesn't mean John Glynn (.229, 6, 22) has a lock on the CF job, not after last year. Goodwill Zwelithini (.271, 4, 12) will compete against him. California: Tsui Hark (.327, 2, 8) just isn't progressing defensively so I've got to find another spot for him. That means that catcher is one again down to Shaun Dennehy (.196, 2, 28) and offseason pickup Mauricio Alvarez (.181, 5, 15). Mauricio Mendez (.227, 8. 29) should fend off Kurt Russell (.234, 0, 5) for second but he'll have to with that year he had in 1972. I never did find a good replacement for Travis Corley (.201, 3, 32) at third, which means he'll be going at it with trade throw-in Larry Hunter (.255, 2, 15 at AAA ALbuquerque). Andrew Powell (.211, 0, 0) barely played last year; hell fight Jared Ferrell (.250, 5, 24) in a battle of failed Brewers. Jaco Pastorius (.199, 2, 19) also exists as a possibility if neither of these guys can hit - that would involve pushing Carlos Hernandez (.281, 9, 61) into left to make room for the speedy Pastorius. Paul Stewart (.262, 12, 50) is yet another guy who could end up in let. For now he's competing at DH with Tsui Hark. Chicago (A): Renee Arnoux (.224, 0, 5) and Claudio Padilla (.278, 1, 7) will compete for the starting catcher job. Both guys are young, so there's that at least. I'll give Chance Hopka (.217, 2, 28) one more chance to compete for the starting 2B job, although Yukio Hatoyama (.272, 1, 23) looks like he has the inside track to me. Speaking of inside tracks, I favor Mohamed Abdelaziz (.249, 3, 16) to beat out Dave Concepcion (.200, 0, 7) for the starting CF job but stranger things have happened. Josh Wade (.276, 4, 40) has been... fine as a White Sox outfielder but newly acquired Carl Weathers (.214, 14, 57) has that pop that the girlies love. They'll compete for right field. Chicago (N): Charles Bradley (.221, 5, 18) will go at it with Bill Daniels (.269, 1, 7) with John Timonen (.136, 1, 7) on the outside looking in. Cincinnati: Oliver Williams (.209, 8, 41) wasn't anything great at catcher and so he'll fight for a job with Leron Lee (.285, 10, 43 at AAA Indianapolis). I'm guessing that we'll figure out some kind of a platoon arrangement. Roberto Hopkins (.254, 1, 10) and Rule V pick Gaudi Rodriguez (.257, 14, 45 at AAA Tulsa) will go at it in center with Jake Leone (.202, 2, 10) there to pick up the pieces if neither of them can cut it. Cleveland: Nick Hodzic (.278, 15, 52 at AAA Syracuse) will fight Phil Stevens (.200, 6, 25) to see who "wins" the first base job post-Ernesto Garcia. Don't expect much! Sergei Zibakalam (.285, 2, 31) is a strong favorite to win the second base job over Luis Oropeza (.200, 8, 21), who the scouts insist I should pay more attention to. Mitt Romney (.206, 6, 32) didn't have the kind of year that makes me think he can just go out and be the team's new shortstop so Cleveland will put him against former Yankees starter German Ybarra (.180, 5, 16) for the job. Neither Brandon Anderson (.243, 9, 35) nor Bobby Corley (.237, 10, 23) were super great last year, and neither of them look to me like they're going to outshine Willie Vargas there, but this is what right field looks like now in Cleveland. Detroit: Not even the World Series champs are immune to training camp battles. Gianluigi Farinelli (.197, 7, 45) will fight it out with 26 year old Joel Moises (.268, 12, 42), who sure looks like a better hitter than Farinelli was last year; on the other hand, he does not have a great arm. Danny Hohman (.260, 5, 40) is a cool success story and all, coming back from injury as he did, but 35 year old Alejandro Cortes (.247, 3, 15) has power and could be a comeback player of the year candidate himself. Houston: Dan Rigdon (.193, 3, 38) will go at it at catcher with newly acquired Jonathan Hyde (.213, 1, 12). In additon to hitting well at AAA Tulsa before he earned the trip up, Hyde's a better defensive catcher than Rigdon but, as they say, we shall see. Justin Jensen (.206, 7, 33) will get one last chance to prove he's worth anything as he fights with John Lopez (.201, 4, 23) for the right field gig. I guess in fairness, Lopez ain't much himself, although dude was .290/19/59 just 2 years ago. Kansas City: I don't like that Mike Perez (.229, 6, 25), a midseason free agent signing, is the best we have to offer here and I'm looking for outside help. For now, he's like the only guy on the team who even hit .200 for KC. Neither Ryan Newton (.232, 4, 36) nor Uwe Kleimann (.226, 0, 12) looked all that impressive last year but... I guess someone has to play the position. Newton his .302 in 1971 so he has the inside track if neither looks any good. Likewise, I am not super happy with the bat of either Mike Dawson (.233, 7, 37) nor Nate Sita (.165, 2, 16), although I'm around 90% leaning towards Dawson. I guess we'll see. Prince Charles (.258, 4, 9) had a nice 98 at-bat stretch in September but that's not enough to just give a guy a job, so he'll duke it out with Allen "I Used To Be An Aiden" Scurry (.222, 4, 21). Los Angeles: There is NO WAY this man is competing for a job but Justin Stone (.257, 33, 95) got just about the most hilarious TCR bump I think I've ever seen: the 33 year old, 6'7" first baseman came into camp in the best shape of his career and... 70 grade speed. He's got good speed overall - he steals around 10-12 bases a year - but this is kind of awesome. Tommy Martin (.233, 0, 19) and Luis Solis (.249, 1, 14) will battle it out at short in a "glove v bat" matchup. I give the edge to the glove here because the Dodgers are built on defense. Lou Morgenstern (.228, 11, 60) is a newcomer to the team but will have to fight it out for a job with prospect Brian Eno (.236, 0, 3). Ronney Yitzhaki (.272, 9, 29) was really good in half a season with the team, at least hitting-wise, but he doesn't really have the glove I want in a Dodgers right fielder so he'll fight it out with Butch Magana (.200, 0, 1) who missed virtually of last season with a broken kneecap he suffered in September of 1971. Likewise, Ben Ernst (.229, 1, 24) was passable with the bat in center but lacks range and so he'll fight with JD Heil (.200, 1, 9) - let's face it, this is mostly to see if Heil can hit like he did in 1971 (.288 average in the majors) because if he can the job is his. Eric Biron (.314, 8, 25 at AAA Evanston) looked like he got his hitting together last year; he'll compete at third base with Francisco Martinez (.224, 6, 24), who is the incumbent and that's about the nicest thing I can say about him. Wing-fung Yi (.241, 1, 5) doesn't really have the arm for shortstop and he has no experience but hey, let's spend spring training seeing if he can build up enough to where he could be passable there. Guido Temudo (.191, 2, 12) is there if he can't. Steve Winwood (.261, 7, 16) may open the year at DH although I'm mainly planning on using it as a grab-bag position for this team. That said, the Brewers signed Adam Dittmar (.146, 4, 24) in September in the hopes that his implosion last year was just due to the pressure of playing for a pennant in Detroit. Minnesota: Brad Reed (.216, 10, 47) will duke it out with the NATURE BOY Ric Flair (.242, 10, 42), who probably has the upper hand due to his superior defensive skills. Pietro Palmarocchi (.263, 3, 16) is a 20 year old who's been a backup for the past 3 seasons. I don't feel comfortable just handing him the second base job so he'll fight it out with Twins' top 2B prospect "Russell Orellana" (.409, 1, 9 in A Wisconsin Rapids), who didn't play much after getting beaned early in the season. Matt Highfield (.303, 1, 28) has got some mighty shoes to fill now that Mike Brookes is gone. He'll fight out the third base job with Darrel Bump (.304, 2, 10), who had a nice month in the majors last year after a season of hitting .223/8/30 in AAA Tacoma. Ronnie Hellstrom (.304, 10, 23) looked nice last year and Jose Villasenor (.208, 3, 24) didn't but Villasenor isn't super old himself - just 27 - and hit .306 in 1971 so he deserves another chance. Gilles Villeneuve (.259, 4, 18) will test Ernie Griffin (.217, 16, 43) to see if the veteran can still play and, heck, he might just win the job outright if he hits .351 like he did in the first half of the season with AAA Tulsa. Montreal: I'll see if I can train Victor Serna (.189, 4, 18) at third in time to be the Opening Day guy there. If not, Adam Owens (.201, 3, 40) is I guess available, if not very good. George Yarbor (.227, 6, 29) hit poorly and isn't a terrific shortstop either so he'll fight it out with Klaus Meine (.264, 1, 14), who is no great shakes himself but is 2 years younger. Anton Mendoza (.216, 6, 24) gets the "bad season" treatment himself, getting competetified with by Arsene Wegner (.242, 6, 40 at AAA Peninsula). New York (A): Khalil Tabb (.230, 1, 22) lost his job fair and square to John Lennon but the Yankees shipped Lennon off as part of the package to get Ernesto Garcia so... awkwardly, he's back. He'll compete with newly acquired Victor Betancourt (.229, 10. 37 at AAA Charleston) for the catching job. Hey, "always compete", right? Aitor de la Rosa (.320, 22, 71 in the Mexican League) signed for an obscene amount of money, the kind of dough that makes Amercan-born players think they can pull that in themselves. He'll compete for first base with Pete Jennings (.261, 9, 38), who didn't manage to get traded off this offseason somehow. Ernesto Garcia's the DH. Adam Groves (.211, 12, 41) is "competing" for the LF job with Dave Dornbush (.249, 4, 25) but truth be told if he shows any signs whatsoever that last year was just a fluke, the job is his. I'm really, really not satisfied with Jeff Murphy (.212, 2, 15) competing with Chavo Guerrero (.165, 0, 9) for the centerfield job and I've contacted Marc Ash, who, scouts say, could walk right in and be a starter. He was cut loose by Montreal last year. Maybe Montreal is just out of their mind? They also have Ryan Johnston (.259, 7, 19) but he's still 2 months away from returning from a torn labrum that caused him to miss the 2nd half of 1972. New York (N): First base, as you might expect, is now a giant mess and prospect "Ray Fischer" (.240, 1, 4 at AA Memphis) will compete with not-really-a-prospect "Ken Sturtevant" (.228, 2, 7) in a battle to see who gets a name. Bill Heyen (.219, 3, 26) didn't hit last year and so now he'll compete with Rule V guy Bora Dugic (.267, 17, 57) for the job. Vicente Luna (.248, 15, 69) did hit pretty well, albeit for the Braves, but he's 36 and on the decline so the Mets will have him and Mark Hamill (.258, 5, 37) duke it out for the third base job. We got a big old youth battle at short, with Mark Spitz (.268, 3, 38 at AA Memphis) going at it with Rick James (.168, 2, 7). The numbers tell the tale: Spitz has no MLB experience but James sucked in the time he did get last year. Because this is the Mets, practically all spots figure to be competitive. In left it's down to Ethan Keesee (.258, 5, 24) vs. Jimmy Washington (.100, 1, 1), who barely played last year but on the bright side is no longer playing second fiddle to Joshua Waltenberry. Curtis Hope (.211, 7, 46) didn't exactly look great but he's still got the upper hand over Kjell Isaakson (.149, 0, 6), who completely failed to hit in 67 at-bats last year. Oakland: I've got Ray Hawkinson (.250, 2, 15) seeing if he can hit .369 again competing against David Salinas (.224, 3, 23), who hit .269 after joining the A's last year, for the first base job. Salinas is also a lifetime .294 hitter. Israel Gaytan (.292, 7, 47) is a guy I kind of like but man the scouts, they do not, and so once again he's in a position battle, this time with former Red Sox starter Dwayne Fraser (.238, 3, 21). This is a rare situation where Gayton has the upper hand on defense and on offense he hits .290 every year. Why is this a competition again? Alex Canales (.263, 7, 54) won a Gold Glove for his defense at first base so why not move him to third? I mean, other than the fact that he's played there before and isn't that good? Chase Jones (.199, 11, 39) is a much better fielder but was turrible bad last season and so can't count on a job. Tyler Knight (.210, 4, 29) would be a shoo-in for the starting shortstop position but he hit .194 after arriving in Oakland last year, so he'll compete with Brian Wilcox (.171, 4, 27), who of course went 4-43 in Oakland. Jon Reid (.217, 4, 25) is a third option of neither of those can hit; more likely he's trade fodder. Alan Rickman (.202, 3, 8) has to be better than what he was last year (he also hit just .212/13/37 in 79 games at Syracuse) but he's competing with Frederick Sumaye (.271, 25, 100 at AAA Iowa) who, as the numbers indicate, hit the century mark in RBIs in a very low RBI season. You've got to tak a long look at clutch like that. David Mesa (.231, 4, 17) has speed but doesn't have a lock on the CF job, what with Sammy "I Can't Drive 55 But I Have a 55 Defensive Rating" Hagar (.190, 1, 4) out there. Richard Berman (.276, 3, 40) was a'ight but the A's need more power on this team so they'll take a long look at prospect "Emanuel Zamarripa" (.273, 11, 37 at AA Amarillo). I like that name and he turns 25 on March 28th so I think he might just be able to keep it. Philadelphia: C Lee Citro (.251, 6, 47) was decent last year but time waits for no man and neither does the MARCH OF COMMUNISM. WWF heel Nikolai Volkoff (.250, 0, 1) will compete with him for a starting job. Josh Coffey (.261, 14, 79) wasn't even that bad last year but he did lose some average. He'll fight for first base with the suddenly jobless John Belushi (.263, 15, 58). Which... man, this is a really strong looking lineup this year. Pittsburgh: Defending NL champs or no, the Pirates do not have a great situation at first base right now, with 40 year old Albilio Valdivia (.245, 1, 6), who missed almost all of last season with a broken knee, as the "incumbent" competing against Arturo Ganzalez (.286, 1, 7), who more or less finished last year as the team's starter at first. I've called on a couple of free agents to compete here too. Hank Williams Jr. (.250, 6, 19) should win out at third but he's 23 and Alex Flores (.215, 3, 30) gets, like, some points for being the starter going into last season. Or something. He wasn't really up for it last year either; mostly he was the guy they turned to after Roberto Prieto turned into a pumpkin and then retired last year. San Diego: Kevin Landy (.219, 12, 44) is 40 and is coming off of his worst season since 1966, when he also lost his startihng job in Detroit. He'll now be challenged by Dale Earnhardt (.263, 12, 45), who was a nice utility option for the Pads last year but deserves a bigger role. Junior Cannon (.208, 6, 22) will need to fend off the new guy "Mel Henriquez" (.338, 5, 27 at AA White Haven), who the Padres traded for over the offseason. Cannon should win but then Cannon should have hit better than .139 for the Padres when they signed him in late August. San Francisco: Iggy Pop (.218, 5, 35) got most of last season to audition for the starter's job at catcher and was kind of meh with it. He'll compete with last year's Opening Day man Chris Campbell (.192, 3, 11). Rodrigo Juarez (.219, 26, 76) finished in the top 10 in HRs (8th) and RBIs (10th) but also hit just .219 so I'll let 40 year old Justin Richens (.247, 4, 20) show if he has anything left after missing the 2nd half of last year with a torn back muscle. If he does, Juarez could always move back to second, which otherwise looks pretty securely Bob McAdoo's (.309, 1, 20) job to lose. Akiho Fujimoto (.280, 2, 39) seems to be the superior to Mario Sanchez (.245, 4, 14) in every way except that Sanchez is a decade younger. So, the MLB being the MLB, they will compete. Erik Estrada (.245, 2, 4) looked ready to take over left... except now he's unrated at the position because his range is so bad. His long-term position might be DH in the American League. For now, Jimmy "Dynomite" Walker (.177, 4, 15) will try ot show that last year was a fluke, although he also hit .174 in the minors after he was sent down so I'm not optimistic. Carl Weathers might have been not-great but his loss puts a Giant hole in the Giants lineup. Will Hartmann (.228, 0, 8) will compete with... Jon Berry (.226, 3, 14) I guess. Since we're talking about San Francisco here, we'll also take a flier on Frank Meneses (.179, 1, 2), who looked to me like he played himself out of the league last year but scouts insist he's still good. If he can actually hit he could walk in and just take this job. St. Louis: Tom Depew (.215, 6, 23) was bad last year and as I noted in the transactions log, he'll compete with Jon Sherron (.340, 3, 17) for the second base job. There is a reason why Sherron never started for the Astros and that reason is defense, but with the Cards possibly rebuilding this year he could be a guy they could just try out there to see how bad he really is and/or give him enough at-bats to pawn him off as a trade chip. Speaking of guys playing out of position, Jason Williams (.220, 0, 8) is probably the better fielding option between him and Buddy Miles (.227, 0, 11), who profiles as more of a 3rd baseman / blues god. Since the Cards already have Mike Galeana at third, Miles competes at short. Jim James (.262, 4, 24) did fine as the Cards' CF for most of last year but Sonny Burwell (.250, 4, 16) is younger and faster. Who wins the job? This one feels like a coin flip. Texas: Waiver pickup Chris Seek (.256, 3, 15) will fight it out with longtime A's pinch-hitter Raul Bueno (.291, 2, 16) for SUPREMACY of first base. Either of them could also wind up playing a lot of DH. Donald Fagen (.217, 1, 12) doesn't look like much and neither does Reggie Jackson (who?) (.219, 1, 23). They'll fight it out at second base in the battle of who could suck less. Dennis Green (.248, 7, 35) hit better than most guys in the Rangers lineup last year but that doesn't mean he hit well. Geoffrey Rush (.303, 2, 7) will compete with him and/or be the second baseman if it comes to that. Norm Hodge (.206, 2, 20) is still the best centerfielder in the AL on defense but he's starting to hit like a pitcher. He'll compete with Bill Iverson (.240, 1, 13), who got a lot of at-bats in the second half of the year out there himself. I'm not sure if JR Cook (.237, 1, 9 at AAA Peninsula) is ready for the big leagues but then, I'm not sure if George W. Bush (.172, 4, 15) is either. Let's see if either of them can hit their weight in spring training. It'll be fun! ----------- March 4: The Expos' Nate Lancaster (3-5, 3.76) is the first semi-big name guy yet to miss significant regular season time. He tore his UCL and will be out for the year. He was plagued by the longball last year but was looking for a bigger role with the Expos anyway. Now his career is in jeopardy. March 5: Mike Harris (0-1, 5.51), who started 29 games for the A's in 1971, suffered a torn rotator cuff and will miss all of 1973 and possibly a good chunk of 1974 as well. That's if he comes back. Harris is only 25 but man, that is a nasty injury. March 6: I guess this was inevitable but 40 year old Pirates 1B Abilio Valdivia (.245, 1, 6) fractured a bone in his leg and will be out until June. And so ends that portion of the first base battle... March 8: Ernie Griffin (.217, 16, 43) is suffering from recurring back spasms and looks to be out until mid to late April, so at least in terms of Opening Day it looks like Gilles Villeneuve has backed into that job. March 8: Speaking of inevitable injuries... Cubs CF Alex Vallejo (.315, 8, 33), who played only around half the year last year, will be out until May with bone spurs in his elbow. CF wasn't supposed to be a competitive position for the Cubs in '73 but then, this is nothing new to Vallejo. Terry Pratchett (.238, 3, 12) and Ryan Clements (.160, 3, 6) will compete for the job now. March 14: Orioles SS John Blevins' (.240, 5, 47) back tightness is proving to not go away and so he'll go on the DL until he's feeling better. That also means that Eikichi Yazawa has pretty much won that training camp battle. He should be the starting SS until Blevins gets better and then I can re-evaluate. March 14: Reds CF Robert Hopkins has a fractured rib that will keep him out until late April. That means that center in Cincinnati is down to the Rule V guy Gaudi Rodriguez or Jake Leone. Leone's the boring choice but Rodriguez isn't exactly lighting spring training on fire so far. March 15: Expos P Jake Cari (8-4, 2.15) is not going to get a chance to show he actually deserved that 1972 All-Star berth, as he's out until August with a torn labrum. The Expos were projecting him as their Opening Day starter so this throws a wrench in their plans... I mean to the extent that Montreal had plans. March 16: Braves PH "Cranklin" Martinez, who I'll be honest was probably getting cut, tore his PCL and will miss the entire season. At 37 years old, there's a very, very good chance this ends his career. March 18: Oh maaaan this one hurts. Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the Giants' SP and runner up for 1972 Rookie of the Year, will be out until the second half of the season at least with "ulnar nerve entrapment", which is prooobably not a 1973 injury but hey, it's bad. March 19: Welp, Angels OF Chris Tyree (.289, 2, 26) is hurt again. He'll be out until June with a strained oblique. SUCK IT UP CHRIS. The Angels' outfield is a mess right now - Carlos Hernandez (.281, 9, 61) for now is moving to right and Jaco Pastorius (.199, 2, 19), he of the .199 average in 1972, is once more competing for the CF job. March 20: The Braves' 1973 chances take a gigaaaaaaantic hit as stopper John Winn (5-7, 1.95, 19 Sv) blew out his elbow in a game and will miss the entire season. The 30 year old Winn is a 5-time Rolaids Relief Award winner, the last one of them coming in 1971, and you can make a solid argument that he's the best relief pitcher in the National League. March 21: Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.257, 33, 95), normally a model of health, got hit by a pitch in a spring training game and the resulting broken rib will keep him out until late April to early May. March 22: Astros SP and reigning Cy Young champ Tony Rivera (23-13, 2.57) has had a nagging sore shoulder injury that just won't go away. As a precaution the Astros put him on the DL. He could return as early as mid-April but who knows? March 23: Rangers RP Erik Godard (--), staging a comeback after missing the entire 1972 season with shoulder inflammation, had things put on hold for the foreseeable future with biceps tendinitis. Texas is hopeful he'll return for the 2nd half. They were hopeful that the 1964 Rolaids Relief Award winner (8-5, 1.22, 25 Sv) would return to form and do some closing work for them, although I guess to be fair he was 1-8, 4.53 in 1971. March 24: With all these preseason injuries the Phillies got a rare shot in the arm as closer Tom Grohs (6-4, 2.25, 20 Sv) returned from the torn rotator cuff injury he suffered last September and will do his rehab in spring training. "Yeah man," said Grohs. "I just spent some time in a darkened room and, like, eventually it got all better and stuff." March 26: Cardinals SP Ricardo Gomez (12-10, 3.97) will miss the year with a torn rotator cuff that's not quite as bad as some of the other torn rotator cuff injuries I've seen. Gomez has been a workhorse for the Cards over the last year and a half and was expected to be more of the same. March 26: Padres SP Ben Feldhusen (6-14, 3.28) was always sort of a ticking time bomb and the bomb just... ticked. I'd put him on the DL early in training camp with shoulder inflammation that looked to keep him out for about a month. Welp... now that inflammation got inflammated and he's going to miss the season. I wouldn't say the Padres were counting on him but they were hopeful he'd be a mid-rotation guy for them again, sure. March 29: WELP. I guess it was time to write off the Mets' season anyway but SS Chris Adams (.245, 9, 50) will miss the first half of the year with torn ankle ligaments. It looked to me like I for some reason had been running a competition at shortstop anyway but Adams was the incumbent and I surely would have come to my senses on that. Now the job really is between Mark Spitz and Rick James. April 3: I did cutdowns for the Phillies worried about this... and newly acquired RF Nelson Vargas (.290, 14, 54) will start the year on the disabled list with a strained groin that figures to keep him out until June. The "good news", if you can call it that, was that I didn't really have a spot for John Belushi (.263, 15, 68); now, at least, he'll get a couple months to prove he has a spot in this lineup. ## Teams in Review
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April 5-15, 1973 OPENING WEEK (plus)
## Standings / Recap / Comments
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LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L WPct GB R RA Detroit Tigers 6 1 .857 - 32 16 New York Yankees 6 2 .750 ½ 28 27 Baltimore Orioles 4 4 .500 2½ 41 31 Boston Red Sox 2 3 .400 3 19 14 Milwaukee Brewers 2 4 .333 3½ 24 36 Cleveland Indians 1 7 .125 5½ 19 39 LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L WPct GB R RA Texas Rangers 4 1 .800 - 25 10 Oakland Athletics 4 3 .571 1 30 31 California Angels 3 3 .500 1½ 25 26 Kansas City Royals 4 5 .444 2 32 43 Minnesota Twins 3 4 .429 2 31 26 Chicago White Sox 2 4 .333 2½ 19 26 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L WPct GB R RA Pittsburgh Pirates 4 2 .667 - 21 15 St. Louis Cardinals 5 3 .625 - 37 27 Philadelphia Phillies 4 3 .571 ½ 33 29 Chicago Cubs 3 4 .429 1½ 37 35 New York Mets 3 4 .429 1½ 22 31 Montreal Expos 2 5 .286 2½ 32 45 LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L WPct GB R RA Los Angeles Dodgers 9 1 .900 - 40 31 San Francisco Giants 7 4 .636 2½ 56 54 Atlanta Braves 4 5 .444 4½ 41 35 Houston Astros 4 7 .364 5½ 55 58 San Diego Padres 4 7 .364 5½ 37 49 Cincinnati Reds 3 7 .300 6 55 57 This is also the time of the year where the Henry Cottos (who?) (I just remember him hitting like 5-11 and leading the AL in hitting one year for some reason) go crazy due to statistical fluctuations. For instance, 40 year old Alex Flores is hitting .500 and there's a three way tie for HRs between one guy who might be there in August (St. Louis' Lorenzo Martinez) and two who won't be (Detroit's Jose "Joker" Ayala, not that he's bad at it, and Montreal's Willie Ortega). Jaden Weaver's hitting only .211 so far but somehow has 14 RBIs to lead all of baseball as well. ## Major Transactions April 5: The Cardinals purchased P Amir Sudler (2-1, 3.00) from the Angels. Sudler was another late cutdown who was in the process of getting DFA'd off the Angels. The Cards will try and find room for him in a surprisingly attractive bullpen. April 5: The Orioles traded SS Dustin Clark (.208, 1, 3) to the Yankees for minor league SS Larry Scudder (.333, 1, 16 at AAA Syracuse). Clark's got experience in that utility role whereas Scudder... man, that man hit last year in AAA. April 8: The Indians claimed P Miguel Hernandez (9-4, 1.91 in 1972) off of waivers from the Cardinals. The Cards tried to sneak him through and Believeland was like "nuh-uh!". April 11: The Padres signed OF Elijah Johnson (.234, 3, 9 in 1972) and 1B "Doctor" Jack Holman (.232, 4, 30). Johnson's an 11 time Gold Glover in center who's no longer a superstar defender but can still get it done in the outfield and also can come in for some pinch-hitting and veteran leadership. Holman's coming in pretty purely to be a lefty pinch-hitter. He can't possibly be as bad as he was last year. April 13: The Brewers signed C Sam Rahn (.127, 4, 16 in 1972). Rahn only looked somewhat washed in Montreal (.172 average) after looking completely that way in Philadelphia (5-71). He won't be asked to do much here. April 13: The Orioles traded P Lucjan Lis (4-3, 3.30 at AAA Rochester in 1972) to the Expos for minor league P Pedro Garibo (5-4, 3.93 at AAA Peninsula in 1972). Lis got int a couple games last year in the major leagues but didn't even make the top 100 prospects list this year so he appears to have fallen hard. He's still only 22 so the Expos could have something. They're trading away "Garibo", who could potentially get named if the Orioles are desperate this year, I guess... well, he got assigned to AA so at this point I'd say those chances are veeeeeeery low. April 14: The Angels traded minor league SS John Deacon (.361, 2, 2 at AA El Paso in 1972) to the Giants for 1B/IF Rodrigo Juarez (.200, 0, 0). Juarez made the All-Star Game last year but is a low-average hitter the Giants fell a bit out of love with. He should slot right in at second with California - no offense to Kurt Russell (.318, 0, 2) but he's still really young and the Halos need that power. ## News April 5: The World Trade Center officially opens in New York City with a ribbon cutting ceremony that includes the two tallest buildings in the world. The 110 story buildings are 1,350 feet high. April 5: Pioneer 1 was launched on a mission to study the solar system. April 5: Pharrell Williams is born. April 5: A quick peek at the "preseason predictions" indicates that yes, indeed, we will see more offense this year THANK GOODNESS. A few highlights: - The Tigers are predicted to repeat in the AL East, with Cleveland doing surprisingly well considering they sold off their entire offense (predicted for 91-71, 8 games in back of Detroit). The White Sox are the preseason darlings with the youngsters getting a year older and the addition of Pedro Castrejon, who looks like he's going to be a beast. - Somehow the Brewers escape 98 losses but we'll see how that actually plays out. The Twins(!) are predicted to go in the cellar in the West, which also doesn't look half as mediocre as it did last year (both the White Sox and the Angels are predicted to win 90+ games). - Ernesto Garcia's first year in New York looks like .203(!)/56/145. He's turning into the Joey Gallo (who?) of the 70s although come to think of it a similar thing happened to Mark McGwire (who?). - Alvin Romero's set to steal 84 bases(!) with his teammate Nikki Lauda set to hit the century mark in RBIs. - In the NL the Phillies look like the cream of the crop even without Nelson Vargas included in there. That looks about right. What doens't look about right to me is the Padres predicted to win 96 games. WHAT!? I'll believe it when I see it. It'd be cool for an expansion team to do so well though. - The Expos as expected are in the cellar with the Braves (?) dropping down into last in the West. - Jaden Weaver of the Reds looks to have a nice bounceback season with a .271/45/134 year that will lift his team back up to 88 wins. - Alberto Juantorena is just... oooooff. .346/42/133. Good GOD. April 5: Opening Day happens with... one whole game on the schedule! The Giants face off against the Reds. The Reds were waaay too gracious as hosts, as P Steve Waiters alowed 4 runs in 7 innings and the Reds went down 7-0 before rallying in the 8th to make is semi-respectable at 7-3. George Harrison went 3-5 as the Giants' #3 hitter. April 6: Pierre Messmer appointed his second cabinet as Prime Minister of France, following the wishes of Georges Pompidou to have a new image of less adherence to the policies of Pompidou's predecessor, General Charles de Gaulle. It's a little crazy to me that France is still reacting to the Presidency of a World War II hero in the early 1970s. April 6: The real-life first-ever DH was, of course, Ron Blomberg. In this save, it's Ernesto Garcia, who comes up with 2 outs an a runner (Phil Hartman) on at first base. He pops out to short. The Red Sox blew out the Yankees in this game, with Tracy Mosher getting knocked out of the box in the 3rd after allowing 6 runs. Boston would go on to win 11-0. I tried to get Michael Pesco to complete this but 1973 or no, the man led off the 9th with a walk and had thrown 158 pitches at that point. April 10: Realing I haven't had news updates! Oops! I may be the only person who cares but I do like these... I even missed Pablo Picasso dying on the 8th. April 10: The crash of Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 kills 108 of 145 people on board and leaves 37 of 38 survivors injured. Of the passengers, 63 were members of the Ladies Guild of Axbridge, a town in the southern United Kingdom; the crash leaves 55 children without a mother. April 10: The Israeli parliament (the Knesset) selects Russian-born biophysicist Ephraim Katchalski, as President of Israel. April 10: Speaking of Israel... three days after a retaliation attack on PLO leaders in Lebanon, Israeli commandos raid Beirot, assassinating three additional leaders of that movement. The unwillingness or inability of the Lebanese army to do anything about this brings the immediate resignation of their Prime Minister, Saeb Salam. April 10: The Royals open their brand new stadium, the appropriately named Royals Stadium, not with a bang but with a whimper, seeing a 3-0 game explode into an 8-1 loss to the visiting Texas Rangers by the end of it. Billy Crystal (1-0, 0.00) gave up one earned run on 2 hits in 6.2 innings but left because of wildness - 7 walks and 121 pitches thrown in that time. Kansas City still won their opening series on the road vs the Angels so this loss only sends them to 2-2. April 10: Expos LF Willie Ortega (.353, 4, 10) drove in all 7 of his team's runs but that wasn't enough, as some bad pitching and worse defense led the Phillies to come back on them from a 5-0 deficit to win 9-7. Ortega belted a 2 run homerun in the top of the first, then added a bases-loaded, 3 RBI double in the 3rd, and topped it off with a second double that scored Paul Kahl from second and Hudson Watts from first. "Not gonna lie, it's frustrating," said Ortega after the game. "I feel like I did all I could and we %&#!% lost anyway." The 7 RBIs are single-game Montreal record. April 10: Speaking of great performances that weren't quite enough, Astros P Tony Rivera (0-1, 1.00) made his 1973 debut today with a 3-hitter at home that included 8 strikeouts. Unfortunately his opponent, the Dodgers' Mario Juarez (1-0, 0.00) was just a bit better today and Los Angeles stole one on the road, 1-0. "They say the ball's livelier this year," Rivera said after the game. "I sure don't see it." The shutout is the 28 year old Juarez' 2nd of his career but also his 2nd in the last 2 - he started a career-high 8 games last year and earned his first shutout then as well. April 11: The British House of Commons votes against restoring capital punishment by a rather lopsided vote of 320 to 178. April 11: Milwaukee C Adam Owens (.500, 1, 1), last year's starter, will miss the entire season with a ruptured medial collateral ligament. Brown was the Seattle Pilots' only first round draft pick; although he was last year's starter, he really wasn't all that good. That said, the Brew Crew are not exactly loaded at the position. Eddie Dimmock (.185, 1, 7 in 1972), a former starter for the Dodgers, will take over for now. April 12: Swaziland annulls its constitution of 1968, dissolves its legislature, and grants all authority to King Sobhuza II. He will rule by decree until his death in 1982. April 12: A mid-air collision of two airplanes kills 16 people at NAS Moffett Field near Sunnyvale, California. Man... so many air incidents in these years. April 12: The Dodgers become the final team in the NL to lose a game as they get walloped at home by the Reds, 11-3, to fall to 6-1 on the season. Starter Ken Hansen (0-1, 7.94) went from throwing 8 strong innings on the Dodgers' Opening Day to getting knocked out of the box in the 4th, allowing 8 runs, 7 of them earned, on a homerun, 3 walks, and 8 base hits. #8 hitter Oliver Williams (.368, 1, 4) was the hero today for Cincinnati; he hit a 2 run HR and went 3-3 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored. April 12: Braves OF Henry Riggs (.438, 3, 7) made the most of a "day off". The 37 year old is being given time off to rest but came in to pinch-hit with 2 outs in the 8th in a 1-0 game vs the Padres. He promptly homered to get his team a 2 run cushion, so they left him in. The very next inning, Riggs got another opportunity with the bases loaded and facing San Diego's lefty specialist Dan Pineau. Riggs belted his 2nd HR of the night. There's probably some weirdo record in there somewhere, like "most RBIs as a substitute", I don't know. April 13: On this SPOOOOOLY Friday the 13th, Jeb Stuart Magruder (ugh), a deputy campaign manager for Richard Nixon, tells federal prosecutors that he had perjured himself during a trial of the Watergate burglars and implicated White House counsel John Dean and campaign manager John Mitchell in the scandal. He will eventually resign and... become a Presbyterian minister(?), and will eventually admit, in 2003, that Nixon knew about the burglary very early in the process and well before the scandal broke. April 14: Adrien Brody is born in Queens. April 14: Sam DeStefano, an enforcer for the mob, is shot and killed at his home in Chicago, a borough which the author, despite having lived here for 7 years, had not heard of. Apparently it's on far West in that part of Chicagoland where it's hard to tell what's the city and what's a suburb. April 14: The Tigers become the last team in either league to lose, dropping a home game 5-3 to the Indians. Everyone in baseball has at least one win and one loss now. Hooray! The seaosn has officially started! April 15: Muammar Gaddafi is expected to resign from the Revolutionary Command Council in Libya. Instead, he announces his plan for a "Popular Revolution". April 15: In Chile, workers at the El Teniente copper mines walk off the job to demand higher pay. The strike will dragon until June, leading to an attempted coup d'etat against President Salvador Allende in June. In September... well, I should still be updating these, so stay tuned. April 15: Nixon's Attorney General Richard Kleindienst informs the President that White House lawyer John Dean has been cooperating with federal prosecutors in the US Justice Department's investigation into criminal charges against Chief of Staff HR Haldeman and Domestic Affair advisor John Erlichman. April 15: The first Scrabble Players Championship is won by Jonathan Hatch. It began on March 18 in Brooklyn and was limited to residents of that borough. ## Teams in Review
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Hall Of Famer
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April 16-22, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
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LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L WPct GB R RA Detroit Tigers 10 4 .714 - 54 32 New York Yankees 8 5 .615 1½ 46 48 Boston Red Sox 7 6 .538 2½ 54 33 Baltimore Orioles 7 7 .500 3 61 52 Milwaukee Brewers 5 6 .455 3½ 47 65 Cleveland Indians 3 12 .200 7½ 48 80 LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L WPct GB R RA Oakland Athletics 8 5 .615 - 58 50 Texas Rangers 6 4 .600 ½ 48 39 Minnesota Twins 6 6 .500 1½ 61 45 Kansas City Royals 7 8 .467 2 61 76 Chicago White Sox 5 6 .455 2 45 48 California Angels 4 7 .364 3 33 48 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L WPct GB R RA New York Mets 9 5 .643 - 52 52 Philadelphia Phillies 8 5 .615 ½ 73 65 St. Louis Cardinals 7 6 .538 1½ 63 54 Chicago Cubs 7 7 .500 2 60 59 Pittsburgh Pirates 5 6 .455 2½ 42 40 Montreal Expos 3 10 .231 5½ 65 85 LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L WPct GB R RA San Francisco Giants 13 5 .722 - 85 68 Los Angeles Dodgers 10 7 .588 2½ 56 65 San Diego Padres 8 9 .471 4½ 66 67 Cincinnati Reds 7 9 .438 5 77 80 Atlanta Braves 6 9 .400 5½ 60 58 Houston Astros 6 11 .353 6½ 79 85 It's as good a time as any to do my little RECAP of the old LEADERBOARDS, right? A Minnesota Twin leads the league in average out of the gate... it's Jeff Franks (.383, 2, 5), who did hit .352 in 162 at-bats in 1971, so maybe he's for real, who knows? He's followed, so far, by Red Sox RF Tom Brown (.378, 1, 7) and Tigers SS Rob Curran (.378, 0, 2). Tony Danza so far is hitting .309 - fine, but not "player of the month" levels so far. Twins 1B Angelo Martinez (.286, 5, 14) leads the AL in both HRs and RBIs. 2 other guys have 4 - Detroit's Jose "Joker" Ayala (.340, 4, 10), and the Orioles' Jason Workman (.182, 4, 9), who was supposed to be a big bat so it's nice to see that at least. Oakland's Alex Canales (.324, 3, 11) is the only other ALer with more than 10 RBIs so far. You will be VERY SURPRISED I am sure to know that Alvin Romero (.328, 1, 8) leads the major leagues in steals with 7; nobody else has more than 3 yet. Pitching of course will be aaaaaaaall over the place early as guys get up here for 2 good starts. Case in point, brand new Twins hurler Ergot Newman (2-0, 0.53), who's given up 1 run over 17 innings so far this year. A familiar face is at #2: Detroit's Jimm Goddard (4-0, 1.07), who's also a co-leader in wins and also has already thrown 33.2 innings in 4 starts. The DH means you never have to pull a starter until they're tired. #3 is of all people Brain Osbourn (2-0, 1.10), the Red Sox' #4 starter. It's hard to see him move up given the awesomeness of the Big 3 but maybe he'll pitch regular innings. As noted, Goddard also has 4 wins; the only other guy with that many in the junior circuit is Oakland's Vince Akright (4-0, 3.13). Montay Luiso (0-0, 1.26) has pitched a million games so far - okay not literally a million but 9 of Baltimore's first 14 - and he leads the league with 5 saves too, followed by Willis Chavez (0-0, 0.00) with 4. Akright also leads the AL in strikeouts with 22 - the big K guys haven't really shown out just yet, with Edgar Molina (3-1, 2.06) at 19 in 35 IP and 1972 Cy Young winner Michael Pesco (2-2, 1.85) also with 19 (also a weeeeeeird 19 walks - he had control issues last year when he led the league in bases on balls with 134 in 298.1 IP but not like this). Ricky Rosas (2-1, 2.49), the converted reliever who's going for the Twins, is currently 2nd in the AL with 21 Ks. In the NL, embattled Pittsbugh 3B Alex Flores (.447, 0, 5) is leading the league in hitting and even this is kind of a "slump" because at one point he was I think 15-30 (he's 17-38 currently). That's a whole lot better than the .215 he hit last year, I tell you what. Houston's own 3B Pete Little (.411, 2, 10) is 2nd and yet another third baseman, Mike Morrison (.383, 1, 5) from Atlanta, is 3rd. Morrison is returning from a torn abdominal muscle that forced him to miss all but 20 games in 1972. Jeremy Taylor (.314, 6, 14) is really picking up from last year with the HRs, leading all comers there and also in RBIs. Several guys are tied at 5 behind him. Luis Martinez (.373, 5, 17) is one of them and is 2nd in the league in RBIs with his work in St. Louis, and Expos LF Willie Ortega (.317, 5, 15) is making things happen himself. He had a good if not super great year in 1970 - .245/16/50 in 457 at-bats between Cincy and Montreal - then got hurt in '71 and just couldn't get PT in '72. Enough about him! Giants LF Jon Berry (.311, 3, 11), the former AL league leader in runs scored, is making the most of a newfound starting job by leading the NL in steals with 6, followed closely by Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.205, 0, 5), who's picked up 5 in between injuries (he's currently missing games with a strained rib cage that portends to keep out of the lineup for another week). Fernando Apolonio (3-1, 0.97) is once again sitting on top of the ERA leaderboards and ahead of Jeff Borden's record-setting 1.61. Paz Lemus (1-1, 1.35) qualifying for the ERA crown is probably bigger news than him posting a low ERA but there he is at #2. And in 3rd is Roger Quintana (2-1, 1.53), who's making hay so far in spite of only 12 Ks in 29.1 IP over three starts. Richard Starkey (4-1, 3.69) is the only man in the NL with as many as 4 wins. He also has 39 IP over 5 games so the man is doing a lot of work early. There's a big old logjam at 3 saves, including but not limited to Lemus. The co-leaders in Ks, at least as of Sunday evening (I say this because one of the guys just started today), are Apolonio and Cincinnati's Steve Waiters (3-1, 2.73), who is also practically the only guy on the Reds who's pitching well. George House (1-2, 4.18) and reigning Cy Young winner Tony Rivera (1-3, 5.17) are tied for 3rd with 23 of them. Rivera just got blown up in the 9th in a 7-5 loss to the Padres; he shouldn't necessarily be completing everything (he threw 20 CGs out of 41 starts last year) but Houston's bullpen is rough. ## Major Transactions April 16: The Red Sox signed OF/PH Kyle Ship (.232, 3, 20 in 1972). Ship had been the second fiddle as a pinch hitter on the Twins the past few years but they cut him and Mike Grigg down over the offseason. Ship has the rep as a bit of a clubhouse lawyer; hopefully the Red Sox are a tight enough ship that he won't be able to act out. April 17: The Yankees flexed their budget and purchased SS Akiho Fujimoto (.265, 0, 6). The Giants have been trying to go with youth for a bit now and Fujimoto at 34 doesn't really fit into their longterm plans anyway. The Yankees do already have Jonathan Banks (.370, 0, 1) at short but they don't trust TJ Pritchett (.324, 0, 5) to stay healthy and so they'll do some kind of non-platoon arrangement over there. April 19: The Dodgers signed OF Greg Cowan (.225, 11, 45). Cowan was pretty bad last year and was a late cut by the Padres out of spring training. He strikes out an awful lot but the Doogs need a veteran left-handed bat off the bench (I feel like he Ks too much for pinch-hitting but we'll see). Brian Eno got just 7 at-bats in so far and will go down to AAA to get more regular PT. April 19: The Angels traded minor league P Joe Scott (2-1, 4.62 for CAL in 1972) to the Tigers for minor league IF "Ken Kraber" (.242, 1, 4). Scott played for the Angels pretty extensively last year but couldn't make the final cut and, hey, the Tigers could always use more pitching. The Halos get a 234 year old non-prospect utility infielder back. He could eventually find his way into the major leagues, who knows? April 22: The Braves traded P Roberto Ortiz (0-0, 0.00, 1 Sv) to the Astros for PH/3B Nate Ringstad (.263, 1, 2). Atlanta traded away their longtime third sacker Vicente Luna (.366, 0, 6) to the Mets over the offseason and they're pretty desperate for depth there, so desperate that they'll consider using the career pinch-hitter Ringstad in the mix, and also so desperate that they've decided to trade away their closer in Ortiz. Ortiz is your classic fireballer who at 27 still hasn't learned to actually pitch. Houston's rotation has been reeeeally iffy this year (a 4.62 ERA) so while the price was high, they've got a guy they can slot in in place of Caleb McDonald (2-1, 7.63) at least. ## News April 16: Excavation begins in South Korea of the Cheonmachong tomb, an ornate internment site for an unknown king who had ruled in the 5th century as a monarch in the Silla Kingdom. April 16: The first "Player of the Week" award was bestowed upon a MLBer. It had previously been only awarded to NL players. This time, too, an NLer, Jimmy Wynn of the Houston Astros, was awarded the honor. WELL. I've been having PotWs for YEARS, real life! Get with the program! April 16: SPEAKING OF WHICH, we've got our first-ever Players of the Week of 1973. In the NL it's an oldie but a goodie: Dodgers OF Lou Morgenstern (.406, 2, 5), who went 11 for 21 last week with all of his HRs and RBIs as his team went 6-1. Morgnestern, as you'll recall, was a longtime Twins guy who was traded to California and, after a disappointing year last year, moved on to the other LA team - the first LA team I should say. This is Morgenstern's 5th Player of the Week but his first since 1970. Old dogs can, um, learn to be good! Also, new snazzy cards! I think I like the 1972 ones better but hey, these are good too. April 16: I believe I mentioned that Tigers 3B Jose "Joker" Ayala (.357, 4, 7) was off to an unsustainable start. Well, it was unsustainable enough to win him the PotW: Ayala went 9 for 20 with 4 HRs and 6 RBIs. Also 2 errors but look, don't talk about that. This is Ayala's 2nd ever Player of the Week Award; he won his other one in the week ending September 14, 1969. April 17: Federal Express officially begins operations with the launch of 14 small aircraft from Memphis International Airport. On this night, FedEx delivers 196 packages to 25 US cities from Rochester, New York to Miami, Florida. April 17: West Germany's counter-terrorist force GSG9 becomes operational. It is created in response to the Munich Olympic disaster last year and will stay in operation after reunification. April 17: The Morganza Spillway on the Mississippi River is opened for the first time by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Intended to protect the city of New Orleans from catastrophic flooding, it serves to do its job in response to a big flood event this year. I guess it did it because Nawlins won't get flooded out this time, although the opening does flood portions of the Atchafalaya River, which causes the deaths of thousands of cattle and white-tailed deer. April 17: Some guy named George Lucas (too old lol) begins writing the 13-page treatment for this idea he has called Star Wars. April 18: Amin al-Hafez is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Lebanon after Saeb Salam's resignation (see above). April 18: Responding to a shortage of gasoline, President Nixon halts all taxes and regulations on imported oil. April 18: The Oklahoma Sooners, who went 10-1 and won the Sugar Bowl, forfeit 7 of their wins and the postseason victory after an assistant coach admitted to altering the transcripts of several freshman players to let them qualify for the team. The Sooners will later be suspended by the NCAA from postseason participation for both the 1974 and 1975 seasons. April 18: The sci-fi flick "Soylent Green", set in the FAR DISTANT FUTURE year of 2022, premiers in the United States. Starring Charlton Heston, it... oh, let's be honest, the only reason I'm noting this is so I can say SOYLENT GREEN IS PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPLEEEEEEEEEEEE. April 18: 2B Brian Long (.259, 0, 2) of the Red Sox is also PEEEEOPLLLLLE and he will be out until July with a dislocated shoulder he suffered yesterday. Mike Runfola (.326, 15, 53), a 27 year old post-prospect who nevertheless raked in Louisville last year, will take over the spot. April 18: New Tigers SP Chris Benavides (1-1, 2.35) is their 4th starter; on most other teams he'd be an ace. In fact, nobody in baseball has stored more games than he has since 1969: 160 in all. Today he showed why, outdueling the Red Sox' Michael Pesco (1-2, 1.80) and throwing a 5-hitter for a 4-0 Detroit win. "It's cool," said Benavides after the game. "I like baseball." (look, the game even says he's boring) April 18: It's shutout day I guess: Twins rookie Svetislav Pesic, a pro hoops player in Serbia in his spare time, engineered a 1-hitter against the struggling California Angels today. "I am just pretend it is the basketball and I make the shots," he said after the game. April 19: The Portugese Socialist Party is founded in the... German city of Bad Munstereifel. Look, I feel bad reporting no news in a given day. April 19: Brewers 2B James Hong (.400, 2, 5) has appeared in here before but it's starting to look like maybe he's the real deal. He went 3-4 against Cleveland today with his 2nd HR of the year, a 3-run blast that put the Brewers up 4-2 in the 3rd inning. He also got himself a walk in this one. Milwaukee is a team that is dearly in need of some good news this year: they were projected to be the worst team in baseball in the preseason rankings. April 20: Former US Attorney General John Dean tells a federal grand jury that he had attended meetings where plans had been discussed (all this passive tense, ugh) to set listening devices in the Democratic Party headquarters but he had never approved the scheme. Previously, he had testified before the Senate taht he had no prior knowledge or involvement in the "bugging". April 20: Australian poet Michael Dransfield (not in the game) dies of a drug overdose. April 20: Someone suggested doing a preseason positional top 10, which, in retrospect I like to get through spring training / preseason as quickly as possible as usually I'm all about getting the games played as quickly as possible at that point. But how about some rankings in-season? Let's start with catcher. To be honest I'm just going to use the OOTPD ratings here; I could have some kind of complex formula or just sort these guys by hand but that feels too hard.... Catcher ------------ 10. Brad Reed, MIN (.242, 2, 4). The 3-time All-Star has fallen off a bit the past couple years but he's still the guy (technically number 10 was the guy the Red Sox currently are using as their backup and Reed was 11 but WHATEVER I DO WHAT I WANT). 9. Mike Perez, KC (.111, 2, 6). If you say so, OOTPD. Perez goes through bouts and by bouts I mean entire seasons where he can't hit and this is feeling like it could be one of them. The good news is, he's "only" striking out once every 6 at-bats at the moment; with the White Sox last year when he got cut after hitting .164 to open the year, he struck out 33 times in 110 at-bats. 8. Andres Gamez, TEX (.233, 0, 3). Without looking that hard at the guys ahead I'd probably rank Gamez a little higher. He's nothing flashy but a catcher who can be a league average hitter without giving it all back on defense is pretty darn good if you ask me. 7. John Lennon, CLE (.289, 2, 7). Imagine if the Yankees hadn't had to part ways with Lennon in order to acquire Ernesto Garcia (currently opening the year in a .159, 1, 6 slump by the way). Lennon is already a good enough hitter to bat cleanup for the Indians and he'll only get better. Because, you know, he's so... young. Look. He's hardly the only guy who has a different playing age than his real age in this league. 6. Adam Brwon, MIL (.500, 1, 1). Um, OK. Brown's out for the year with a ruptured MCL. I guess to be fair TOOOO BEEEEEE FAAAAAAAIR this is the overall positional rankings and the Brewers have Eddie Dimmock (.304, 1, 1) and Sam Rahn (.333, 0, 1) there currently; it's a very deep position if nothing else. And TOOOO BEEEEE FAAAAAIIIIR again Brown is a 1st round pick so probably is better than the 208/347/330 slash he put up last year (which, still good eye but he needs to get the average up). 5. Frank Abagnale, BAL (293, 0, 5). The American League has an absolutely embarrassing number of good young catchers. Abagnale's con artistry means he's also an expert at framing pitches, and offensively the only backstop I'd put up with him in the junior circuit is Texas Josh Lewis. OK maybe Gamez wasn't rated too low after all... 4. Doug Connally, PIT (.385, 0, 6). Nice to see Connally hitting again after losing that tool in the 2nd half of last year. He's also thrown out at least 43% of baserunners in each of the last 3 years (not counting '73 yet; he's "only" 1 for 3 so far). 3. John Stuart, STL (.250, 1, 8). Stuart's a good contact guy, kind of a rare trait in a catcher, who is a solid defender and a team captain. If that sounds like All Star material to you then yes, the man has gone to 5 of them, including last year's (weirdly he didn't make it in '69 or '70, I guess because he got hurt). 2. Texas Josh Lewis, OAK (.220, 0, 2). I called him Texas Josh to differentiate him from first baseman California Josh Lewis (.143, 1, 3), recently signed by the Pirates. That nickname might not be needed for much longer but I like it anyway. Lewis is, I don't know... Jason Kendall (who?) with power, a prototypical #3 hitter, and a pretty solid defender as well, as his 2 Gold Gloves in 2 full seasons suggests. 1. Jason Bushon, NYM (.200, 1, 3). His team might be rebuilding but Bushon is a guy you build around rather than trade for the build. Even in the dead ball situation of last year, Bushon set career highs in HRs (19) and RBIs (71) and now will get even more of them in the middle of the Mets order. April 20: I wasn't expecting to see a game like this, what with everything going up in terms of offense... but Indians SP Robert Rivera (2-1, 2.74) carried a no-no into the 7th and wound up one-hitting the Red Sox en route to a 2-0 win. Troy Brown got Boston's one and only hit in the 7th, and the Red Sox never got a man into scoring position the entire game. "The best kind of wins are the one where I can just kind of cruise", said Rivera, now in his second year in the American League. "This was one of those." April 20: Add Mike Stuckey (2-2, 4.85) to that list, as he threw a 3-hitter tonight to edge Fernando Apolonio (3-1, 0.97) and the Dodgers, 1-0. His guys only had 7 hits themselves - Apolonio seems like he's picked up right where he left off last season - but a Jimmy Walker (.273, 1, 3) homerun was all Stuckey needed. April 21: Serial killer Edmund Kemper murders his final two victims, his mother and her best friend. Kemper will drive from Apris, California to Pueblo, Colorado, where he will confess to the murders. April 21: Merian C. Cooper, the director of the movie "King Kong" and co-inventor of the Cinerama film projection process, dies today. April 21: Man, I don't want to report on every single shutout but... the Red Sox' Brian Osbourne (2-0, 1.10) had himself a game today. Osbourne struck out a career-high 10 batters and looked more like his new teammates than the Brewers finesse guy he was last season with a 4-hit shutout of the Indians. "Hey, if I strike out guys like Mike Pesco, maybe I'll get paid like Mike Pesco?", Osbourne said after the game with a laugh. April 21: Sometimes when you play with the DANGER you get the ZONE. Expos closer Kenny Loggins (0-2, 5.68) blew a 6-1 lead in the 9th, surrendering 3 hits and walking one (it was intentional) in a 7-6 loss to the Mets. CF Kjel Isaakson (.349, 0, 6) delivered the final game-winning single with runners on at 2nd and 3rd. "I'm alright," he said after the game. Loggins has some insaaaannely bad luck with balls in play so far: he's struck out 11 men in 6.1 IP (great!) but has still somehow allowed 11 hits thanks to a .524 BABIP. April 22: A gunman on the south side of Los Angeles kills six people and wounds nine others while on a shooting spree on Easter Sunday. The gunman had become enraged after arguing with a guest in his home, then shot people whom he knew. A security guard pursued him and was misidentified as the gunman by police, who shot nad killed him. The gunman was wounded but taken alive and will eventually be sentenced to life imprisonment. April 22: The final Singapore Grnad Prix is held before the event is discontinued. It is won by Vern Schuppan of Austria (not in the game). April 22: Dalip Singh Saund dies. Saund was the first Asian-American, the first native of India, and the first member of a faith other than Christianity or Judaism (Saund was a member of the Sikh religion) to be elected to the US Congress, where he served 2 terms out of California. April 22: White Sox OF and big-name Mexican League free agent signing Pedro Castrejon (.211, 0, 4) hasn't been all that so far this year and today he got even worse news. Castrejon strained his rotator cuff making a throw in from the outfield and will miss the next month. Chicago expects to employ a platoon of Jon Marsden (.210, 10, 39 in '72) and recently acquired Carl Weathers (.214, 14, 57 in '72) there, with the side effect of pushing Josh Wade (.340, 1, 7) into a full-time role. Chicago's faced very few lefties so far so there hasn't really been platoons but they will happen, I swear! April 22: Twins 2B Pietro Palmarocchi (.242, 1, 5) took advantage a bad control day by Rangers SP Chad Daugharty (1-2, 4.05) to become the latest Minnesota ballplayer to walk 4 times in a game. The last person to do so was SS Justin Ramey (.275, 1, 4) in 1972. Surprisingly Mike Brookes hadn't reached that threshold in a game since 1969. Nobody's walked more often in one game for the franchise, going all the way back to their time in Washington. Palmarocchi, incidentally, has a .444 on-base percentage now in spite of that low average. Daugharty and reliever Jake Callaway (0-0, 0.00) incidentally combined for 10 walks, with Daugharty's total of 9 (in 7 innings) one off the Rangers'/2nd-run-Senators' own record of 10, last set by Kent Coffey (1-1, 3.42 with Monterrey in the Mexican League) in 1970. For their part, the Twins, in spite of trading away Brookes this offseason, lead the AL in on-base percentage with a .348 mark. April 22: You just can't pitch to Phillies LF Alberto Juantorena (.362, 2, 8) nowadays, like, period. The 2nd year guy - he surely would have won the ROY last year had he played for the entire year - went 3-4 with 3 runs and 3 RBIs for the Phillies, igniting their offense in an 8-2 win over the Cardinals in the first game of a double-header. Juatorema hit a double and a solo HR in this game so he wound up a triple away from the cycle. "You would think that because I am so fast, that would be the first hit, not the one I did not get," said Juantorema after the game. April 22: Pirates SP Jeremy Battaglia (0-3, 4.45) is struggling in maybe the weirdest way possible for him to struggle. The ace, who had a 2.10 ERA last year, is known for not allowing HRs. He gave up 12 all of last year in 321 IP. So far, in just 30.1, he's already allowed 6. He gave up 3 today in a 5-4 loss to the Cubs (to be fair TOOOO BEEEE FAAAAAAAAIR in Wrigley): a game-leader-offer to CF Alex Vallejo (.400, 2, 4), a solo shot in the 6th to reigning MVP RF Jeremy Taylor (.298, 5, 12), and a 2-run shot by 2B Juan Perez (.226, 2, 4) that tied the game at 4 (Battaglia would go on to lose this one in 10, 5-4). Is he hanging his curve? Is he tipping his pitches? Only time will tell. ## Teams in Review My rule of thumb here is, 20 losses. Obviously that can't happen until teams play at least 20 games.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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April 23-29, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
105[\t] LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L WPct GB R RA New York Yankees 12 7 .632 - 83 70 Detroit Tigers 11 9 .550 1½ 77 62 Boston Red Sox 9 8 .529 2 64 44 Baltimore Orioles 7 12 .368 5 68 75 Milwaukee Brewers 6 12 .333 5½ 75 120 Cleveland Indians 4 17 .190 9 56 105 LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L WPct GB R RA Oakland Athletics 15 5 .750 - 96 63 Texas Rangers 12 4 .750 1 77 52 Kansas City Royals 12 9 .571 3½ 113 109 Chicago White Sox 8 7 .533 4½ 59 62 California Angels 8 9 .471 5½ 51 58 Minnesota Twins 6 11 .353 7½ 75 74 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L WPct GB R RA Philadelphia Phillies 11 7 .611 - 99 88 St. Louis Cardinals 11 7 .611 - 83 73 New York Mets 12 8 .600 - 72 75 Chicago Cubs 11 9 .550 1 79 78 Pittsburgh Pirates 7 8 .467 2½ 49 48 Montreal Expos 5 13 .278 6 89 107 LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L WPct GB R RA San Francisco Giants 15 9 .625 - 104 86 Los Angeles Dodgers 12 10 .545 2 74 80 Houston Astros 11 13 .458 4 109 105 Cincinnati Reds 9 12 .429 4½ 98 105 San Diego Padres 9 13 .409 5 75 84 Atlanta Braves 8 12 .400 5 81 83 In the AL the West, which was pretty bad across the board last year, has the top 2 teams in it now in the A's and Rangers. The A's are riding decent starting pitching led by 6-game winner Vince Akright (6-0, 2.42) and have seen a nice bounce-back year by LF/DH Casey Satterfield (.282, 4, 11), who went just .219/2/9 after being traded from St. Louis last August. The Rangers always seem to have great pitching and this year the offense has been doing the job as well. 3B Roberto Hernandez (.288, 1, 10) was rescued from a backup situation in Cleveland; he's now Texas' best pure hitter. The Yankees were an easy preseason pick with the addition of Ernesto Garcia (.295, 9, 21), and they just swept the Twins over the weekend to hop into first in the East. It's hard to count the Tigers out though when they've got so much good young hitting, from CF Alvin Romero (.309, 1, 12, 9 SB) to 2B Joey Ramone (.315, 2, 8) and even to RF Frankie Faison (.370, 0, 6), who was himself a fashiunable pick to regress badly from his .323/3/24 rookie campaign (in 198 at-bats). A counter-story to the Yankees is how Cleveland has been, if anything, even worse than expected so far. I mean, they didn't dismantle their pitching staff! They're 2nd worst in the AL in runs; what's been crazy is that their starters' ERA is dead last, thanks to anti-performances by Dylan Hamilton (0-3, 5.73), 1972 10-game winner Robbie Coltrane (2-2, 5.46), and, worst of all, 1972 Kansas City Royals wins leader and 5-time All Star Miguel Chavez (0-4, 10.47). In the senior circuit, it's also been all about the West and especially the Giants, who have had an uncharacteristically good offense in spite of trading away 1972 HR and RBI leader Rodrigo Juarez (.154, 2, 5 with the Angels). 3B George Harrison (.372, 3, 14) has looked more like his outlandish 1970 (.388, 2, 13 in 121 at-bats) than his pedestrian '72 (.263, 8, 53) and he's been the backbone of this lineup so far. They aren't in contention but I'm still amazed that the Astros have managed to a. get to first in the NL in runs scored and b. tie for 2nd worst in runs allowed in the Astrodome. Their hitting seems like it's as good as advertised but their top 3 starters have been reeeeeeeeeeally bad so far this year and I can't fully explain it. I think the Phillies will probably wind up ahead of Houston in terms of straight up runs scored because they've also got a very deep lineup but also because Veteran's Stadium is not a giant cavern that loses homeruns. Alberto Juantorena (.377, 3, 13) seems to have picked up right where he left off last year, which is just plain huge for Philadelphia. If anything, they've yet to see the best of SS Tony Shannon (.290, 0, 4) and 3B Mike Brookes (.327, 1, 11). The Cardinals just swept the Giants at home to pull into a tie for the East lead... it's really hard to draw a bead on these guys. 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.300, 5, 17) could easily produce at that level for the whole season; at the same time, he's 35 and hit .230 last year so this could just be his best month. The Mets are mainly there, let's be honest, through smoke and mirrors. I'll talk about them more if they can keep it up. Montreal so far has been a case study in just how bad it's possible to be with a roughly average offensive attack. The answer: pretty, pretty bad. ## Major Transactions April 23: The Orioles signed P Dan Ballard (0-5, 4.63 in 1972). Ballard might not have a lot left but the O's could really, really use a lefty in the bullpen outside of Montay Luiso so in he comes. April 24: The Dodgers traded minor league RF Alan Moore (.346, 0, 1) to the Brewers for CF Ross Poynor (.340, 1, 5). Poynor fills what was, frankly, a gaping hole in centerfield for Los Angeles, although they do have to give up a top 100 prospect in Moore to get him back. Moore was the 11th overall pick in the draft last year and writes gruesome comics in his spare time. ## News April 23: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad begin two days of meetings at Sata's presidential resort to put together details on an October assault on Israel that would become the Yom Kippur War. April 23: The AL Player of the Week is named and it's Red Sox 1B Mike Miller (.300, 3, 9), who went 12-32 (.375) last week with all 3 of his HRs, 8 RBIs, and 5 runs scored. This was the first full week for Miller too - the Bosox had only played 5 games going into the 16th. You'e seen this name before (although not so much last year): he's won the PotW 8 times in his career, the last time for the week ending September 13, 1971. April 23: In the NL meanwhile the PotW goes to a newcomer... to the league. Reds LF RJ Dominguez (.344, 2, 11) got off the HR schneid last week with both of them, 10 hits in 21 at-bats (.476), and 7 RBIs. He's won the Player of the Week 3 times himself, the last one at right around this time last year, the week ending April 24, 1972, at that time for the Royals. April 23: Newly acquired Houston SP Roberto Ortiz (1-0, 0.00) was thiiiiiiiiiis close to throwing the most unlikely Maddux I've ever seen. With 2 outs in the 9th, Ortiz, who led the AL in walks in 1970 and 1971 (164 in '71!), and who certainly would have led again had he not bee traded to Atlanta in the middle of last season, had only thrown 80 pitches and somehow had zero walks. Then of course he proceeded to walk the next two men, just to remind us all that he is Roberto Ortiz, before striking out Padres LF Junior Cannon (.235, 1, 9) to end the game. April 24: The Supreme Court of India, in a narrow 7-6 ruling, renders its judgment in what is called the "Fundamental Rights Case" which holds that it has the right to strike down any amendments of the Constitution of India that are in violation of the fundamental principles of the Constitution. So... sort of like their Marbury v Madison, only on steroids, since our own Supreme Court specifically draws the line at Constitutional amendments (although it will interpret those amendments in all kinds of ways). The case concerned the state of Kerala's attempts to impose restrictions on the management of the property of a Hindu monastery. April 24: Danny Seligman (.205, 0, 5) has been hampered by a strained ribcage muscle since the 14th and now it's become a nagging injury. UGH. Off to the DL you go, Danny the Phantom, so I am not tempted to use you as a pinch-hitter (and also he could very easily be out for longer than 19 days). April 24: Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.210, 5, 13) fiiiinally had the kind of game the Yankees have been waiting for. The double-reigning MVP had his first multi-HR game, going 3-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs in an 8-2 drubbing of the White Sox. "It's been hard to get adjusted to not being in the field," Garcia admitted after the game. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy not having to wear a first baseman's glove." April 24: It takes the Red Sox 8.2 innings to figure out Twins phenom Ergot Newman (2-1, 1.40) but they get it done, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win the game 3-2 on a 2-run homerun by CF Jon "The Astronaut" Glynn (.290, 1, 5). "That kid's gonna be something some day," said Sox hurler Marco Sanchez (2-2, 3.48), who picked up the complete game victory in his own right. The loss drops the Twins to under .500, which, frankly, is a situation they should get used to. April 24: In an uuuuuuuuuuuuugly game - a 17-10 victory for the Royals - 3B JP Carter (.354, 0, 8) sets a new Royals record for hits in a game and becomes the latest ALer to get 5 of them. Amazingly, none of them were homers; in fact, the Royals only had 1 of their 24(!) hits leave the yard today, a grand slam by C Mike Perez (.217, 4, 13). Howard Rollins (4-0, 4.20) went the required 5 innings for the win, while Omar Jiminez (1-2, 6.20) was chased in the 2nd inning after having given up 7 runs for the loss. April 24: SO MUCH NEWS TODAY and I haven't even hit the NL yet! Tigers DH Danny Villegas (.190, 0, 2) can't even stay healthy as a full-time designated hitter; he strained his hip running the bases and will be out for the next month. UGH CITY. April 24: Another bit of bad injury news today: Pirates LF Justin Lawson (.261, 1, 6) sprained his hamstring diving for a ball and will be out for the next month. To add insult to injury (LITERALLY) the Bucs lost this one to the Pirates 3-2 to fall to 5-7. They were having issues scoring runs before losing their cleanup hitter; things could get ugly fast. Pittsburgh has called up lumbering football defensive tackle Jerry Sherk (.292, 1, 3) to take his place, kind of. April 25: The Boulevard Peripherique (lots of accents there I'm not going to bother with WOO HOO AMERICA), the first ring road, is completed to circle Paris. The highway, 22 miles (35km) in circumference, had been undergoing construction since 1968 with initial planning having happened before World War II. April 25: ITALIANO BASKETBALLO play a championship tiebreaker today (excuse me, I'm studying/restudying since I took a year of it in college Italian on Duolingo right now). Ignis Varese defeated Simmenthal Milano 74-70 with the help of Americano Bob Morse, who supplied 31 points. April 25: More bad injury news for the league as "20 year old" Brewers phenom James Hong (.358, 2, 5) is diagnosed with a fractured wrist he suffered yesterday. The silver lining to this very bad cloud - Hong was just about the only decent regular left in the lineup (okay that's overstating things) - is that for the time being it moves Wing-fung Yi (.263, 0, 6), who was all kinds of awful at shortstop, back to his native second base. Yutaka Enatsu (.167, 0, 0 in AAA Evanston), in real life a big strikeout pitcher for a certain league in the Far East who actually had a spring training tryout with the Brewers in the 80s, will come up to back up the middle infield. He's a complete non-prospect but the Brewers are pretty short on guys who can play anything resembling defense at short (well, outside of new starter Guido Temudo (.191, 2, 12 in 1972) at least) so here he is. April 25: White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.262, 1, 7), who finished 2nd in baseball in HRs last season with 44 of them, finally got number 1 today. "I play my best ball when school's out for the summer," said Cooper as an excuse. The 3rd year man has just 2 extra-base hits out of 11 hits total and is a big part of why the Chisox, predicted by some as a surprise AL West champ, have struggled out of the gate at 6-7. April 25: Things were looking really bad for the Dodgers, who started the year 10-1 but then lost their next 7. They blew a 3-2 lead in St. Louis in the bottom of the 8th to go down 4-3 facing off against Travis Livingston (1-1, 4.32) in the 9th. Livingston proceeded to pick up his 3rd blown save in 6 opportunities as 2B Danny Fager (.268, 2, 8) hit an RBI double to bring in newly arrived CF Ross Poynor (.333, 0, 3) all the way from first base. Alec Cosby (2-2, 2.31) nailed down the 9th to send the game into extras and then, the Doogers bats came alive for once. Technically the leadoff HR by LF Lou Morgenstern (.262, 3, 9) was the game-winner but all told Los Angeles scored 5 times to win it, 9-4. Sans 1B Justin Stone, the Bums (can you still call them that in LA?) have had a loooot of trouble scoring runs, so this was good to see. They're currnetly 8th in the NL with 69 of them, dead last in average (.230), and 3rd worst in steals (4). In spite of their record, now at 11-8, they've been outscored 75-69. April 26: The Chicago Board Options Exchange opens for its first ever day of trading for the purposes of buying and selling options to acquire stocks at a future time. The US Department of Justice files an antitrust suit the same day. April 26: A rocket attack on and near Cambodia's largest airport, launched by the Khmer Rouge, kills 24 and wounds 55. April 26: Irene Ryan, the woman who played the grandma on "The Beverly Hillbillies", dies today at 70. Ryan collapsed onstage on March 10 while appearing in the Broadway production of Pippin. April 26: Hey, so I did the top 10 catchers last week; let's move on to the top 10 first basemen. You'll want to note that Ernesto Garcia isn't on here because he's a DH now. 10. Niki Lauda, DET (.250, 0, 3). Lauda's struggled to find power so far but pitchers are clearly afraid of it: he's walked 10 times in 67 PAs (also one hit batsman). Can't wait to see that power when it does come out! 9. Angelo Martinez, MIN (.268, 5, 14). It seems unfair to put this man so far down on the list - and he's pre-emptively making people pay, it looks like - but there are soooo many guys ahead of him who are arguably even better. And of course Martinez is 37 now. 8. Alonzo Rivera, KC (.265, 0, 9). That said, I'm not sure I'd put this guy ahead. Rivera's a 25 year old high average, not super high power guy, like kind of a John Olerud (who?). KC is lucky to have him, don't get me wrong, but me personally I think I'd still put Martinez in front. For now. 6 doubles though (note: I noticed this while playing out the Royals game today, where he picked up #7). 7. Aitor de la Rosa, NYY (.325, 3, 9). These are positional rankings of course and for the Yankees it matters because this includes Pete Jennings (.208, 1, 2), a 4-time All-Star with the Angels. De la Rosa is really good in his own right though and to be fair to the fairness this tally doesn't include Garcia. 6. Mike Miller, BOS (.328, 4, 10). Early results seem to indicate that Miller is back, baby, and if he's back then Boston's got an MVP candidate in the middle of their lineup. 5. Joshua Waltenbery, HOU (.254, 4, 12). Speaking of guys who are back... really the numbers aren't showing it yet, other than the dingers, but maybe a change of scenery is all we needed here? I'd put Miller in front of "Superman" here, especially given Waltenbery's awful 1972 season (.245, 24, 78), but both are trying to answer questions right now. 4. Lorenzo Martinez, STL (.322, 5, 17). Martinez is only 2 years youngeer than Angelo Martinez but this old man seems to still have something left in the tank. I mean, so does Angelo. What am I saying? Lorenzo's 28 HRs away from 500 on his career and has a great chance of reaching that mark this season. 3. Antonio Lopez, CHC (.274, 1, 4). To be an MVP candidate and still only the 2nd best first baseman in your own city... that must suck. Lopez himself is only 27 this year so he's part of the new generation of sluggers along with the #1 guy. 2. Justin Stone, LAD (no record). Stone was like "pitcher's park? No problem" his first 2 seasons in LA after getting traded there from St. Louis. Right now he's still around a week away from returning from the fractured rib that's kept him out all season so far and boy oh boy do the Dodgers feel his loss. 1. Alice Cooper, CHW (.262, 1, 7). He's had a bit of a power outage himself like his Chicago rival but this is a man who hit 44 bombs last year at the age of 23. Cooper's here to stay. I mean, maybe not literally here in Chicago because the White Sox are cheap but... you get the idea. April 27: The Politburo of the Communist Party of the Society Union is changed as two members are ousted from their positions as full members and Secretary Leonid Brezhnev oversees the addition of three allies ot full membership in the ruling body. April 27: L Patrick Gray resigns as acting director of the FBI, having served since the death of J Edgar Hoover last May. Gray quits after admitting that he had destroyed documents relating to the bureau's investigation of the Watergate Scandal. Gray had previously withdrawn his request to be nominated as the full-time director on April 5. Gray will testify in a couple months that on June 21, 1972 he had been handed sevearl top-secret cabled reports implicating the administration of John F Kennedy in the 1963 assassination of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem as well as love letters writen by Kennedy as a US Senator "involving some of his peccadilloes, if you will". April 27: A new league is founded! World Team Tennis is announced at a press conference in Miami. Oh yeah, this will go far. April 27: Cleveland's losing streak builds to 6 games with a 3-1 loss to the A's in Oakland. Dylan Hamilton (0-3, 5.73), who's been struggling a bit this year, threw a quality start but it couldn't make up for his teammates' inability to score runs. They're 3-15 now and I was like "man, they can't possibly be this bad by Pythag" but nope, their Pythagorean won-lost is 4-14. April 27: Richard Starkey (4-2, 3.89) tried to become the first NLer and 2nd player overall (Vince Akright of the A's) to win 5 games and... it did not go well for him or the Phillies in general. He was chased with no outs in the 6th after allowing 6 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits. Then the Phillies bullpen blew up the rest of the way, turning a 5-4 Reds lead into an 11-5 romp by hometown Cincinnati. 2B Pedro Ortiz (.342, 2, 11) led the charge with 5 hits, including a TEAM RECORD TYING 2 triples (obviously that's been done by several players in Cincy history), 4 runs, and 2 RBI. "Watch out," Ortiz said after the game. "We're better than you think." April 28: Clifford Glover, a 10 year old African American boy, is shot and killed by a New York City PD undercover officer after running rom police along with his stepfather. The shooting takes place in South Jamaica, Queens. Outraged residents will riot over the next several days, with 10 civilians and 14 policement injuried. Shea will also, because this is the 1970s after all, eventually be acquitted of all charges in June of 1974, which will touch off another riot. April 28: Six Irishmen are arrested by the Irish Naval Service off County Waterford, on board a coaster carrying five tons of weapons destined for the Irish Republican Army. April 28: LIverpool and Celtic finish their (European football) seasons today as league champions of England and Scotland, respectively. In the Football League (the Premier League would not be founded until the early 90s), Liverpool winds up with a record of 25-10-7 for 60 points, ahead of Arsenal's 23-11-8 for 57 in spite of Arsenal winning one match 2-0 and getting a scoreless draw in their other tie. In Scotland, Celtic baaaarely takes it home with 26-5-3 for 57 points just edging out Rangers at 26-4-4 for 56. PLAYOFFS, EURO SCUM. PLAY OFFS April 28: Ian Murdock, software engineer and designer for Linux and Sun Microsystems and, like, the Babe Ruth of software, is born today in West Germany. April 28: Nikos Zachariadis, a Greek Communist politician, dies while imprisoned in the Soviet Union in what the Soviets say is a suicide. And if I know Russia, it's that they don't kill political dissidents. April 28: I guess it was only a matter of time. In spite of a slow start, Yankees DH/1B Ernesto Garcia (.257, 7, 17) is back on pace for a 65 HR season after slamming two of them in a 14-5 walloping of the visiting Minnesota Twins. "They call this the House that Ruth built," said Garcia, who also hit 2 doubles and had 4 RBI in the game, said in a postgame interview. "Maybe we should rename it to the House that Ernesto Remodeled." April 28: Phillies SP Billy Ording (4-0, 2.15) has made headlines with his non-pitchery hitting. Is this the year he becomes a great pitcher? He sure looked like one today, throwing a 5-hit shutout of the Reds for a 5-0 victory. "I've still got a lot of work to do," said the mild-mannered Ording after the game. This game moves Ording, at least for now, into 5th in the NL in ERA and part of the 3-way tie for 1st in wins. April 29: In Mexico, 6 people are cilled and 15 injured in the 18th annual road roace from Jerez to Zacatecas City as driver Daniel Quesada loses control and flips his car into a crowd of spectators along the roadside. Quesada himself, from what I can gather, was only slightly injured in the accident. April 29: David Belle, French actor, film choreographer, and stund coordinator credited as the founder of parkour, is born today in... France. I'm not going to try to spell out the name. Just France. April 29: Padress PH/OF Gabe Martinez (.260, 1, 18 in 1972), injured near the end of spring training and expected to be back in mid-May, suffered a setbakck and now won't be back until at least June. April 29: And converting oft-injured 2B to DH has failed twice in two attempts, as the Twins' Aloha Dan Gilmet (.271, 2, 12), who finished 3rd in the AL in hitting last year, will miss the next month with a knee injury he suffered sliding into 2nd base. The Twins have not been competitive this year and this injury will make it even harder to get there. Ernie Griffin (.103, 0, 0), who didn't have a great year last year (.217/16/43 in 116 games and 387 at-bats) and who has been slumping this year before suffering a back injury, will take over as the team's new designated hitter with Gilles Villeneuve (.237, 3, 7) going fulltime in right for the forseeable future. April 29: Kansas City's Howard Rollins (5-0, 4.00) and Detroit's Jimmy Godddard (4-1, 1.93) dueled to see who'd become the 2nd 5-game winner in the AL and... well, you can see from the stats how it turned out. Goddard failed to go at least 5 innings for the first time all season and Rollins overcame wildness (6.0 IP, 6 BB, 6 K) to win the game 7-2 and take the weekend series at Detroit, 2 games to 1. 1B Alonzo "The Big Dog" Rivera (.318, 0, 13), acquired over the offseason for RJ Dominguez (.329, 2, 13), went 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs and his 9th double of this young season. April 29: Speaking of wins though, Oakland's Vince Akright (6-0, 2.42) becomes the majors' first 6 game winner by taking apart the Orioles 6-2 by scattering 9 hits in the complete game. His opponent Tim Reece (1-3, 3.55), who threw a lot of pitches 5 days ago, was pulled in the 6th, by which time he'd already given up all the runs (3) that Akright would need. This is the first time in Akright's career that he gets to call himself an ace on a potentially good team. He went 59-55 for the Tigers from 1966-1970, and then, just as they were on the eve of goodness, he was the jewel of the deal that brought Detroit back Alvin Romero and Bruce Rubio. He then was moved to Oakland in exchange for Doug Ellis and Billy Crystal during spring training of '72; however, if you'll recall, the A's slumped last season to 78-77 after winning 90 games and the division title the year before. So far this year those A's are 15-5 with the best record in baseball. Will they keep it up? They might not have to, to get out of the West. April 29: That last paragraph being said, though, the A's great start only puts them in a virtual tie with the Rangers so far, who are 12-4 on the season following an 8-2 drubbing of the crappy Brewers. Akright's former teammate Kevin Freeman (3-0, 3.90) got the complete game win tonight with the normally poor hitting Texas team featuring a lineup that saw everyone get a hit. SS Michael Luna (.245, 1, 7) led the way with a 3-4 game with 2 runs, 2 RBIs, and a double. Oakland and Texas will face off for the first time this year in a 4 game weekend series at Arlington Stadium from May 10-13. April 29: Danny Plaunt's (1-3, 4.89) been having problems adjusting to the National League but the former Senators and Brewers pitcher put it all together today, at least, throwing a 1-hit shutout of the Reds in Riverfront for a 5-0 Phillies win. "I didn't have my best stuff today," said Plaunt after the game, "but sometimes that works, too". Plaunt, who won the final AL Silver Slugger award for pitchers last year, made a case for beating out teammate Billy Ording this year, too, as he went 2-4 to raise his average on the season to .400. ## Teams in Review My rule of thumb here is, 20 losses. Obviously that can't happen until teams play at least 20 games.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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April 30 - May 6, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
All right, I'm gonna try something new here with Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% New York 14 10 .583 - L3 104 105 .263 27 8 4.07 2.5 4.4 .986 33.3 Detroit 14 11 .560 ½ W3 104 92 .283 18 21 3.33 3.0 5.4 .979 30.4 Boston 12 10 .545 1 L2 97 64 .265 17 5 2.70 3.3 5.6 .975 43.8 Milwaukee 9 14 .391 4½ W1 105 146 .272 19 16 5.89 4.1 5.0 .980 36.8 Cleveland 9 17 .346 6 W5 89 120 .251 21 9 4.38 3.3 5.3 .984 26.3 Baltimore 8 16 .333 6 W1 97 110 .246 17 10 3.91 3.8 5.1 .971 42.9 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Chicago 13 7 .650 - W8 102 75 .280 13 10 3.29 4.3 4.8 .979 53.3 Oakland 15 11 .577 1 L6 112 103 .277 21 10 3.61 2.8 4.9 .974 33.3 Texas 12 9 .571 1½ L5 89 78 .256 15 12 3.17 3.8 5.2 .977 43.8 California 12 10 .545 2 L1 90 92 .240 18 21 3.96 3.4 4.6 .983 30.8 Kansas City 14 12 .538 2 L1 144 143 .265 18 10 5.29 3.5 4.6 .991 25.0 Minnesota 8 13 .381 5½ W2 95 100 .259 25 12 4.39 3.7 5.9 .980 40.0 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% New York 17 8 .680 - W5 97 90 .273 7 15 3.39 3.2 5.2 .983 46.7 Philadelphia 15 8 .652 1 W4 134 101 .283 20 18 3.54 3.2 4.8 .978 60.0 St. Louis 14 10 .583 2½ W1 100 89 .243 20 8 3.48 2.8 5.3 .983 68.8 Chicago 15 12 .556 3 W2 114 99 .260 26 11 3.21 3.4 4.6 .985 57.7 Pittsburgh 10 11 .476 5 L2 73 68 .248 9 1 3.10 2.6 5.4 .985 36.4 Montreal 8 15 .348 8 L2 109 130 .266 25 9 4.86 3.7 5.1 .977 43.8 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% San Francisco 17 14 .548 - L2 123 134 .251 28 22 3.83 3.3 5.3 .980 28.0 Los Angeles 15 13 .536 ½ L1 91 95 .234 24 5 2.81 3.0 5.9 .975 41.2 San Diego 13 15 .464 2½ W2 96 97 .234 14 7 3.07 3.7 5.1 .974 56.2 Cincinnati 11 15 .423 3½ W2 120 123 .259 23 15 4.45 2.4 6.5 .977 29.2 Houston 12 17 .414 4 L4 124 135 .248 35 11 3.94 3.5 4.9 .965 29.6 Atlanta 8 17 .320 6 L5 95 115 .254 15 7 4.40 2.9 5.7 .983 42.9 The AL East has also seen the Yankees running a lesser form of that. Well... what happened to them was that they ran into the White Sox and got swept in Chicago over the weekend. Their starting rotation, especially Tracy Mosher (2-3, 8.04) is having some issues this season. While they were faltering against the White Sox, the Tigers got to play the other AL West contender/pretender, the Rangers, and swept them at home. I think Detroit still hasn't really hit their stride with the bats but man, when they do, hold on to your "bippy". I don't know how the Mets are doing it but they're doing it even harder now and at least now they've outscored their opponents, so that's nice. They were 5-0 this week against the Reds, who are sub-.500 and were bad last year, and the Astros, who are sub-.500 but were good last year. They're still just barely out in front of the Phillies who are there legitimately and boast the best offense in the National League. They also swept their weekend series against the now-apparently-terrible Braves. Finally, the NL West is just turning into the new AL West. The Giants have been playing a loooooooot of games early and that seems to have caught up to them. They went 2-5 this week against the Pirates and Cubs, two teams you'd expect a contender to beat. I guess the Giants aren't expected contenders. The Dodgers seem like they should fit into that role better and they did get Justin Stone (.364, 2, 5) back, but they still scuffled to a 3-3 record. The Pads are still there but come on, expansion team. And a look at the ol' league leaders... White Sox SS John Johnson (.415, 1, 9) is chasing .400 in the early going. Remember JJ? He finished 2nd in average in '69 and '70 and then stunk the last 2 years. Maybe a change of scenery was all he needed! Tommy Weiss (.388, 3, 13) of the Yankees and rookie JP Carter (.359, 1, 16) of the Royals are next, which, man, the Royals just produce these guys like crazy (also though Carter had 109 at-bats last year so I don't think is a rookie). Ernesto Garcia (.286, 11, 24) hasn't homered in 4 whole days but is still on base to break his own record he set last year. Minnesotan Angelo Martinez (.274, 8, 20) is showing he isn't done yet with a 2nd place showing in HRs and RBIs, and the Joker Jose Ayala (.347, 7, 19) and California's Rodrigo Juarez (.233, 7, 16) round out the top 3 in ding-dongs. Alice Cooper (.333, 5, 20) is the man Martinez is tied with in ribbies. Alvin Romero (.320, 1, 15), as you'd expect, is leading the league and is the only man in double digits with steals (11). Jimmy Goddard (5-1, 1.65) leads the AL in ERA and is tied for 2nd in victories. He did it last year and somehow he's even better so far this year. Rich Reese (3-1, 1.78) of the White Sox, a converted reliever, is 2nd and the Ironworker Justin Kindberg (3-3, 1.81) is 3rd with a hard-luck record to go with it. Vince Akright (6-1, 2.60) has gotten "lit up" for 3 runs a couple times this year so he's not among the ERA guys but he does have the most wins. Howard Rollins (5-0, 3.98) is getting all of the run support in Kansas City to ride a mediocre ERA to 5 Ws. In spite of Baltimore being awful, Montay Luiso (0-1, 2.21, 5 Sv) is doing everything he can to keep them from being worse - he also has played in 14 of the O's 24 games so far. He's got one more save than 3 guys. And oh yeah, strikeouts... Cleveland never dealt their pitching and so Jose Martinez (1-4, 3.47) is still there to top the league in Ks if not Ws with 41, followed by Detroit's Edgar Molina (4-3, 3.38) and Boston's Michael Pesco (3-4, 2.56). The National League is kind of getting dominated by BA leader Alberto Juantorena (.368, 4, 18), maybe not to the extent Ernesto Garcia rules the AL but close. He's followed in the batting race by a very surprising Kjell Isaakson (.358, 0, 12) of the Mets, who barely got out of spring training with his club, and George Harrison (.357, 3, 16), who hit .388 in 121 at-bats in 1970, slumped to .263 last year, and now seems to be in 1971 form again. The Reds' Jaden Weaver (.297, 9, 32) paces the league in HRs and also has a million freaking RBI. He's on pace to hit 199 of them. George Foreman (.289, 8, 23) is right behind him in both categories. Well, "right behind" only applies to the dingers. 3 guys have 7 HRs to follow. Victor Serna (.322, 5, 23) is proving the doubters wrong with a hot start to his year and the 3rd most RBIs in the NL. Your steal man is the Giants' Jon Berry (.301, 4, 13) with 9, followed by St. Louis' Sonny Burwell (.240, 1, 4) and the Phillies' Tony Shannon (.308, 1, 9) with 7 apiece. Fernando Apolonio (5-1, 0.98) is still ahead of the best-ever-ERA pace. Will he make it this year? Roger Quintana (3-2, 1.52) is pretty great himself but a mile behind in 2nd, and the Apolonio's teammate Mario Juarez (2-1, 1.84) is 3rd in spite of only pitching in 4 games so far this year. Billy Ording (6-0, 2.58) is hitting and pitching his way to being the first 6-game winner in the NL, followed by Apolonio nad his teammate Richard Starkey (4-2, 3.57). Geoff Saus (2-0, 1.29) has been utilized similarly to Montay Luiso in the AL - that is, all the time - and he's got 8 saves to show for it... and he's probably reason #1 why the Mets are overachieving the way they are. 3 guys are tied with 5. George House (3-3, 4.59) evened Bullet Bill Vanover (3-1, 2.81) in Ks with 39 of them. This surprised me because House hasn't been very good. Raul Mendoza (3-1, 2.02) is right there behind them with 37 strikeouts (and is also 4th in ERA). ## Major Transactions May 2: The A's trade minor league P Alex Rivera (2-2, 2.33 at AAA Salt Lake City) to the Phillies for OF Antonio Valencia (.250, 0, 1). The A's do need a solution in left. Meanwhile this might not seem like the greatest manuever for Philadelphia but Valencia's never really been able to stick in the majors and heck, last year he was even just a pinch-hitter in the minors. They get back Rivera, who's old for a prospect (he's 25) but hey, he's had a good start to the year. May 4: The Red Sox traded P Ji-man Im (1-0, 3.52) to the Rangers as part of a conditional deal. I have no idea what the conditions are but the 31 year old Im was barely playing in Boston this year so it was kind of either this or a DFAment. May 4: The Pirates purchased 3B/1B David Salinas (.346, 1, 4) from the A's for $25,000. Salinas really can't play 3rd anymore but he looks like he can still hit and the Pirates are in desperate, desperate need of someone who can rake at first base. ## News April 30: The Watergate scandal continues to unfold; today is (I think, right?) known as "Black Monday" as the day President Nixon fires White House counsel John Dean and requests and receives the resignations of Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, domestic affairs advisor John Erlichman, and US Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. April 30: In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Admiral Hermese Quijada of the Argentine Navy is shot and killed by terrorists while driving his car. April 30: Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.295, 9, 21) went from having a pretty meh April to being right on pace to blowing up the league for the third straight year over the course of one week. For that he won the AL PotW award. Garcia went 14-25 (.560) with *6* homeruns and *12* RBIs. Just absolutely massive. I should point out here that Yankee Stadium, where Garcia has belted 7 of his dingers so far this year, is still very much a HR-friendly park for lefties, although not *quite* as friendly as Cleveland Municipal was last year - I think old Yankee Stadium increases HRs by 32% whereas the Mistake on the Lake did so by 48%. ANYWAY, this was Garcia's 7th PotW award and his first since the week ending August 28th of last year. April 30: With a week like that, anything that happens in the NL is bound to be a letdown. The NL Player of the Week is Roberto Ortiz (2-0, 0.43). The Astros hurler was traded from the Braves on the 22nd, promptly went into the rotation, and gave up 1 run in 17 innings in a week that included a 4-hitter against the Padres and than an 8-inning, 1 run, 3 hit effort against the Expos. Ortiz won both of those games. This is Ortiz's first-ever PotW; pitchers don't win it that much and frankly Ortiz has never been quite this good. April 30: There are no games scheduled today. Weird! How weird, you ask? The next time this will happen - an unscheduled league day that's not because of the All-Star Break or labor issues (which is not me being all passive about strikes; the 1990 lockout also doesn't count), will be June 29, 1998. April 30: While I'm at it, though, Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (NR) is back! LA fans rejoice! 1B Jonathan Freeman (.205, 1, 4), who was filling in while Stone was out and I guess could have hung on as a pinch-hitter had he hit at all in the majors, has been sent down to think about what he's done. May 1: An estimated 1.6M workers in the United Kingdom stop work in support of a Trade Union Congress "day of national protest and stoppage" against the government's anti-inflation policy. May 1: The government of Japan completes its repayment of debt to the US for foreign aid received during the American occupation after World War 2, paying $175M in one lump sum at the request of the US, which needs the money to relieve its balance of payments deficit. I feel like I'm as much of a deficit hawk as the next guy but this seems like a bit much. May 1: Three gunment invade a cargo terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, tie up employees of Air India, and make off with $500,000 worth of diamonds and jewelry. Because of the robbers' familiarity with Air India's operations, investigators suspect that the crime is an inside job. May 1: A group of three robbers take 50 children hostage at a Peoria, Illinois private elementary school following a botched bank robbery nearby. Police... shoot and kill one of the robbers and the other two surrender. May 1: In speeches made in celebration of May Day in Sweden, Prime Minister Olof Palm and Foreign Minister Krister Wickman accuse President Nixon of violating the Paris Peace Accords and of bombing refugees in Cambodia. Which, the Khmer Rouge were bad people and all but this did happen. May 1: It's ___ of the Month time, starting with the NL Rookie of the Month. It's Sting! Not the wrestler, the singer. Gordon Summer (2-0, 3.21) wasn't exactly a world-beater but given the state of pitching all of the sudden I guess you don't need to be to be the best rookie in the NL. He struck out 18 batters in 28 innings over 4 starts, including 2 wins and 2 no-decisions. Only 23 men got hits off of him for a .232 average. May 1: For the AL Rookie of the Month... this is much more what I figured to find. Ergot Newman (2-1, 1.40) was pretty lights-out for an otherwise struggling Minnesota Twins team with 16 Ks in 25.2 innings pitched in 3 games, 2 of them complete, with a shutout. It'll be interesting to see how well he can keep this up as the year progresses. The Twins are in need of a new #1 with the trading away of Chris Benavides. May 1: The NL Pitcher of the Month is Fernando Apolonio (4-1, 1.17). Remember him? Yeah, he's still awesome. I don't think he'll be chasing Jeff Borden's ERA record into June/July like last year but hey, he is through April so that's nice. Already in 5 starts, Apolonio has pitched 46 innings (he went 12 in a 1-0 win against the Braves on the 15th) with 30 Ks, 8 walks, and an opponents' average of .233. This is the second PotM award for Apolonio; he also won it for last May. May 1: The A's Vince Akright (6-0, 2.42) is the pretty obvious choice for AL Pitcher of the Month, what with being the first man to 6 wins and all. He's averaging just over 8 innings per start - 48.2 IP in 6 starts - with 30 Ks vs 16 walks. Maybe he's not as unstoppable by the peripherals as some guys, I guess, but he's getting the job done. Akright won this award one other time in his career: June 1969, in admidst his career year with the Tigers (22-11, 3.00, and 8 shutouts). May 1: Big George Foreman (.293, 7, 21) of the Astros is the winner for the NL Batter of the Month award, I guess just narrowly beating out Jaden Weaver (.264, 7, 25) of the Reds among others. A .293 average isn't like amazing for one month but when you hit 7 dingers it's kind of good. He's on pace for 47 of them. I wouldn't expect that, given that his career high is 19, but man, he should at least get over 20, right? Foreman won Batter of the Month last August and also won Rookie of the Month for September 1971, capping off a .380/9/39 mark in about a third of a season (56 games, 208 ABs). May 1: And of course I think you can figure out who the AL Batter of the Month is: Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.295, 9, 21). He's pretty good at it. Garcia has now won the BotM award an amazing 8 times, the last one all the way back in August of last year, so that means he's won 2 of the last 3 in the junior cicuit. May 1: Orioles ace closer Montay Luiso (0-1, 2.33) had been near-perfect this year and Baltimore had been leaning on him heavily, too. Today he finally met his match in the White Sox' Alice Cooper (.294, 2, 13), who belted a 3-run homerun off of him in the 9th to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. "It's always nice to get BOMBS against the man," said Cooper, who's been suffering from a power outage this year, after the game. May 2: Former Texas Governor John Connally, a longtime Democrat (and part of the JFK motorcade, right?) announces he is switching to the Republican Party as part of what many political observers believe is the first step towards running for the Presidency in 1976. Connally had been considered as a replacement for Spiro Agnew after he resigned last October (WHOOPS MISSED THAT) but the job had gone to Gerald Ford instead. May 2: I guess the Phillies figured out how John Belushi (.343, 1, 10) will fit on this roster... well. He's out for the year with a broken kneecap. Hope he doesn't get fat while nursing that injury! May 2: The Angels finally got onto the 1973 boat. Losing 6-3 in the 9th and facing Detroit's closer (I might need to rethink that) Alex Madrigal (0-2, 9.31), the Halos... went bonkers, exploding for a 10-run inning to go on to beat the Tigers 13-6. The grand slam HR by Rodrigo Juarez (-250, 6, 14), who finished the game with 2 HRs and 7 RBI, was the death blow for both the game and for Alvarez but they continued to score another 3 runs off of his replacement, last year's #4 starter Juan Merino (0-0, 11.25). The loss drops the Tigers to .500 (11-11). May 3: President Nixon issues his fourth annual "State of the World" address to Congress in which he warns the governmnt of North Vietnam that "we will not tolerate violations of the Vietnam agreement". In retrospect, a. the "State of the World" seems arrogant although even more appropriate for a US President to provide in the 2020s than in the 1970s, and b. what, exactly, were you going to do about North Vietnam again? May 3: Braves CF Jose Gomez (.143, 2, 8), who's been a part-timer ever since he came here and who isn't even hitting in the part-time role, is mad that he's not starting every day. I guess I'll monitor the situation but frankly the way the Braves are playing, the next step for the 32 year old Gomez is probably a release, not an increase in time. May 3: And speaking of disgruntled centerfielders, the Astros' John Lopez (.154, 1, 3) at least used to be a starter in Houston. His poor bat (.201/4/23 and a .271 OBP) turned him into a part-timer last year and now... reall, he's being used about as often as last season but isn't even performing at his 1972 levels. George Foreman (.289, 7, 22) has a hammerlock on the position so it's not like he has any room. I guess I'll keep him on the roster for now and see if he can build up any trade value (and see if Houston goes a'trading any time soon) but he could easily be a late summer release himself. May 3: All right, so let's take a look at the top 10 2B situations in baseball... (11) Aloha Dan Gilmet, MIN (.271, 2, 12). I know it's only a top 10 but I felt remiss not including the guy who led the AL in hitting for most of last year off this list. He gets hurt a lot - is hurt right now in fact - and at this stage in his journey he's more of a DH than a second baseman. Also just missing this cut: Nate Rowe, PHI (.214, 0, 9 but .337 in 1971) and Bill Murray, BAL (.267, 2, 3). 10. Rodrigo Juarez, CAL (.250, 6, 14). The Angels desperately needed power and their California friends the Giants really came through for them. They got him for kind of cheap too - a well-regarded prospect but still a prospect in minor league SS John Deacon (.361, 2, 2 at AA El Paso). This trade won't probably be remembered the way the Ernesto Garcia deal will be but this one will still not be looked on too fondly by Giants fans, I don't think. 9. Tyler Webster, PIT (.250, 0, 2). Fans - well, OK, me - constantly look to this guy for what he isn't. The game had him playing short until I flip-flopped him and Henry Villar (.254, 0, 4) there, he doesn't see lefties well, which makes him not as productive as he might be otherwise, and he keeps getting hurt. The flip side here is that Webster's got good pop for a middle infielder (well, not yet this year but he did crack 18 HRs in 1972), is solid as a second baseman, and fits well with this team. This is why he's a pennant-winning keystoner. 8. Hudson Watts, MON (.367, 1, 2). Watts has been held out by injury a lot this year and otherwise it's interesting that the game already thinks so highly of him - he hit .257/11/48 his rookie year, which is fine but nothing spectacular. On the other hand, this is the 1st overall pick from 1970 and that means something. 7. Pedro Ortiz, CIN (.321, 2, 11). I've learned not to say "he should be higher" but... he should be higher. Ortiz is hitting above his class right now but even when he's at the .250s-.260s range he's been at the last 2 years, he's got leading-the-NL speed. And I guess he did hit over .300 his first 4 years in the league. Maybe this is his proper level. 6. James Hong, MIL (.358, 2, 5). Hong has emerged at the ripe old age of "20" to be this good and be one of the very, very few bright spots in that Brewers lineup. Of course he's hurt because Milwaukee can't have nice things. 5. Danny Fager, LAD (.267, 2, 8). I'm conversely surprised that Fager is this high up. Not that he doesn't deserve it - well, I'd probably rank him at 7th or so. He really struggled last year but when he's on he does basically everything you can do on a baseball field relatively well - hit for average, for power (at least for a MI - he had 12 HRs with Baltumore in 1971), run, and field second at a Gold Glove quality level. 4. Kevin Dwyer, ATL (.289, 3, 11). Maybe this is the game telling me Dwyer's starting to fall off at age 34? The Braves are still counting on him to be their guy, although the Braves might not be all that good this year. 3. Paul McCartney, SD (.253, 0, 6). McCartney's suffering from an absolute power outage a year removed from belting 32 HRs but the game insists he's still worth it. Let's see some dingers, Paul! 2. Juan Perez, CHC (.216, 3, 6). Like McCartney, Perez is struggling kind of badly in the beginning of the year. He's got power though at least! He's also a decade older than Paul. I'd definitely rather have McCartney to build a team around; on the other hand, Juan Perez did not write "Admiral Halsey". 1. Joey Ramone, DET (.329, 2, 9). The reigning World Series MVP is also, what do you know about that, the best 2B in the game as well! May 3: Leave it to the Pirates to remind everyone that we are only a year removed from 1972. Jeremy Battaglia (2-3, 2.98) only got a single run of support and that not until the 10th inning but it was still all that he needed in a 1-0, 6 hit shutout. Josh Matthews (2-2, 3.07) was really good himself but not quite good enough in the end as the Giants, who've done decently at scoring runs (t-2nd in the NL although a lot of that's due to the fact that they've played 27 games so far) couldn't come up with any today. Battaglia, incidentally, also drove in the only run of the game. May 3: And speaking of pitching like it's 1972... Dodgers ace Fernando Apolonio (5-1, 0.98) shut down a normally potent Cubs attack with a 3-hit shutout and a 3-0 win. Apolonio, true to form, only struck out 5 - which, okay, that's average for this era - but never really looked threatened the entire game. "I like to keep my defense involved," he said after the game. Pinch-hitter Ronney Yitzakhi (.250, 0, 3) delivered the game-winning 2-RBI single in the 7th that broke up a scoreless tie. Oh yeah, also, Apolonio became the first 5-game winner in the NL with the victory. May 3: Good gravy, there were 4 games played today, and 3 of them ended in shutouts (the 4th was a 3-2 win by the Mets). Don Henley (3-1, 2.55) stymied the Cardinals with 4 hits allowed and led his Padres to a 2-0 shutout of the NL East contenders. The NL ERA is still 3.62, so a whole lot higher than last year, but we're no longer seeing the weirdness (which I think by the way held IRL) where the NL is still outscoring the DH league. May 4: Construction of the Sears Tower is completed, making it the world's tallest building, which I think includes the big old antenna poles but hey, tallest is tallest I guess. May 4: President Nixon confers with his family at Camp David to discuss whether he should resign due to the Watergate scandal. Of course this is not reported at the time... also, I misread the years here because Spiro Agnew is still the VP. Duh. I say this because of course should Nixon resign here, he'd be replaced by Agnew, who, however you may feel about Watergate (which, 50 years on, it was pretty bad), Spiro was just straight up taking bribes while in office. May 4: Dylan Hamilton's (1-3, 4.06) been having a rough go of it with the last-place Indians but today he shut down the A's on 6 hits in a 5-0 Cleveland victory. Hamilton struck out 4, didn't allow a walk, and threw only 96 pitches... it's a Maddux (who?)! "Yeah, I don't know who you're talking about either, nerd, " said Hamilton after the game. "Get away from me with those fake baseball names." May 4: Man, it's a good thing the Phillies didn't give up on Danny Plaunt (2-3, 3.97) after his tough start. He's now thrown 2 consecutive shutouts, today's coming at the hands of the Braves in a 10-0 laugher. Plaunt gave up only 2 hits all day, the first happening with 2 outs in the 7th. "I'm just glad to be wanted," said Plaunt. His team is now 13-8 and a game behind the Mets. May 4: I don't want to cover literally every single shutout but this one is still special... the Card's Raul Mendoza (3-1, 2.02) is off to a great start - even his one loss came in a 7 inning quality start - and today he threw a 5-hitter and struck out 11 Dodgers for a 2-0 win over Ken Hansen (1-3, 3.83). 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.298, 6, 19) scored every single run in this game with a 2-run homerun in the 4th inning. The victory raises the quietly overachieving Cardinals to 13-9 on the year. May 5: Shambu Tamang becomes the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. Reports differ as to his actual age; some say he was 16 but according to 2024 Wikipedia it's generally believed that he was 17 years of age. Whatever, he's still the youngest! May 5: Sunderland wins 1-0 over Leeds in the FA Cup final at Wembley, marking the first time that an FA Cup winning team has no players who had played for a national team and the first time since World War II that a FA Cup winner was not in the First Division. May 5: Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby. May 5: Led Zeppelin plays before a crowd of 56,800 people at Tampa Stadium for the band's 1973 tour, breaking the August 15, 1965 record for highest attendance at a concert set by the Beatles at Shea Stadium in New York. May 5: The Twins, off to a 6-13 start, "fired" their manager. This gave me the opportunity to replace that with a "human" manager (I'd set all to be run by the commissioner). Enter... Frank Quilici. Based on his real-life stats, Quilici is very conservative with the baserunning and especially bunting, which should be fine for a team of this age. The Twins were just contending last year but it was a weak division and they have since traded off large chunks of their rotation and their star 3B Mike Brookes. Otherwise, I've been wanting to move to "human" managers for a while so that I could see their records, etc. but it's hard to transition from "commish runs all teams" to this setup. Except one by one! That's how I'll do it! May 5: Helio Salgado (.143, 0, 0), the Cubs backup 3B and a 35 year old who... I'll be honest, I'm not sure how he's still in the league, wants a chance at starting. Where, Helio? I'm not even going to bother putting him on the trade block; nobody wants to start a 35 year old career backup. May 5: The new look Twins (see below for changes) didn't exactly explode but they did enough to give Frank Quilici the win in his first shot at managing. Bill Lucas (2-2, 3.69) went 7 strong innings and LF Jeff Franks (.315, 2, 7) went 2-3 with 2 runs scored in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox. Matt Brock (0-1, 1.93) did make things... interesting in the 9th, loading the bases with 1 out, but he wiggled his own way out of the jam for his first save all year (and only his second save opportunity). May 6: Pope Paul VI returns the relics of St. Mark to Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic CHristian Church, who then places them in the Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo, a Christian church built by the Muslim nation of Egypt. May 6: The World Hockey Associate plays its first championship game. The New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets in Game 5 by the football score (baseball score?) of 9-6. The trophy is not yet ready to be used so the Whalers instead skate their victory lap with the Eastern Division trophy. Both of these teams will move to the NHL when the WHA folds but neither are currently in their original locations - the Whalers moved from Boston to Hartford and eventually to Carolina, whereas the original Winnipeg Jets are now the Arizona Coyotes. May 6: Terrible day for the Cubs and injuries, as Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18) sprained his ankle yesterday and it was diagnosed that he'll be out until late June now, and Alex Vallejo (.378, 2, 4), who's been in and out of the lineup with a couple of injuries, just learned that his knee soreness got downgraded to nagging status. I'm going to keep him on the roster, as the main thing thing keeping him out of the lineup is shoulder tendinitis, which is expected to clear up in a week or two. In the meantime I've been using him a bit as a pinch-hitter. May 6: The Orioles, who were riding a 9 game losing streak coming into today, broke out of it and took out all the frustration of those 9 losses on the Angels in one game. Yeah. 14-1. This is even a team that was having a lot of problems scoring coming in, too. Jason Workman (.221, 5, 13) led off scoring with a 3 run HR in the 1st - he's only recently gotten his average up over .200. After Angels starter Al Gore (1-4, 8.69) gave up another 2-run shot to SS Eikichi Yazawa (.200, 1, 4) in the 2nd, he settled down for a while... until he lost it in the 7th. Also the guy who came in for him, lefty Derek Massey (0-0, 4.50). And the guy who came in for him, Luis Flores (0-0, 12.00). All in all, the O's scored 9 times in 2 innings. George Dapson (3-3, 3.94) had a no-hitter into the 7th and wound up with 1 run allowed on 3 hits through 8. May 6: The Reds were a media pick in the preseason and I still like them... if they can get their pitching together. Today was a sign of why. Bullet Bill Vanover (3-1, 2.81), a guy who throws in the mid 90s but who was never able to convert that into strikeouts, threw a 3-hitter against the Expos for an 8-0 win. Vanover struck out 8 today and is tied for the NL league lead in Ks with 39. Also, you know, the Reds scored 8 and all that: RF Jaden Weaver (.297, 9, 32) went 3-3 with 2 runs and LF RJ Dominguez (.309, 4, 18) added a 2-run HR in the 8th. May 6: Padres starter Tim Anderlik (2-4, 3.05), truth be told, did not have his best stuff and on top of that he was wild. Normally, that's a recipe for disaster. When you play the Pirates, especially the Pirates without Justin Lawson, you can still succeed. Anderlike threw a 5-hit shutout in spite of 6 walks and 2 strikeouts to lift his team to a 5-0 win. The new guy David Salinas (.359, 1, 4) had 2 hits but that was practically the only offense in the game. "We've got to do better," said the manager of the Pirates, "or else I'll get replaced by someone you've heard of." ## Teams in Review May 5: I'm going to use the Twinkies firing their "manager" as an excuse to do a review, although mostly I'm going off of the current bench coach Ben McFatter's recommendations... Pitching: OK I SWEAR TO GOD this changed while I was looking at it... I'm not going in with a 4 man rotation; that's just the AI trying to conform to the league settings. One thing I will do though is the game wants to move Pete Eason (0-0, 4.05), who's been swing-manning for a while, into the rotation. Sure, why not? Jesus Cosme (0-1, 7.71) has pitched his way off this team and at 32 I'm not even going to bother sending him to the minor leagues. Paul Boerger (0-2, 3.38) narrowly missed the final cut so I'll call him back up to go in middle relief with Svetislav Petic (1-2, 5.29) out of the rotation and working as my long man. Infield: McFatter wants me to replace Brad Reed with Ric Flair at catcher. Sure, why not? Meanwhile, Matt Highfield (.264, 0, 7) has come way down from a hot start and McFatter wants me to put Darrel Bump (.250, 0, 0), my original choice to run 3rd before Highfield won the job in spring training, in the position. There are hopes that he'll hit better and he's definitely a better fielder. Outfield: McFatter wants me to run an outfield of Franks-Hellstrom-Griffin which I'll mostly do. I just can't see a good spot for Jose Villasenor (.300, 1, 2) but Hellstrom's (.324, 1, 3) hitting too well and while neither of them is a super great CF, Hellstrom's the better of the two. Franks (.300, 2, 7) is the 3-hole hitter so he stays in the lineup fulltime. I'm not suuuper hot on Ernie Griffin (.171, 1, 1), who is 35 and also not hitting well but I guess what McFatter says, goes. Gilles Villeneuve (.244, 4, 9) will fill in all over the place. Oh right, and at DH I'm installing Dan Field (.500, 0, 1), acquired over the offseason for C Zaire Murray, who decided not to play baseball over the offseason. Hey, neat storyline! He'll be a quarterback I bet. Anyway it is totally NOT due to sunk cost fallacy then that Field, who's barely played this year, will get his chance to show what he can do at DH. Like, all in all I don't know that the team is actually playing younger but hey, we'll see...
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03-16-2024, 03:03 PM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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May 7 - 13, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
All right, I'm gonna try something new here with Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Detroit 19 12 .613 - W1 139 111 .289 22 24 3.29 3.3 5.6 .980 32.3 Boston 17 11 .607 ½ W4 144 83 .288 26 9 2.82 3.0 5.3 .978 45.0 New York 16 14 .533 2½ W1 127 141 .258 34 11 4.34 2.5 4.5 .986 36.4 Milwaukee 10 18 .357 7½ L1 119 168 .262 21 20 5.53 3.9 4.7 .981 39.1 Baltimore 10 20 .333 8½ L1 118 134 .251 24 12 3.76 3.9 5.0 .973 39.1 Cleveland 10 22 .312 9½ L4 116 167 .253 29 13 4.85 3.2 5.3 .982 26.9 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Texas 17 10 .630 - W1 114 91 .263 22 12 2.91 3.5 5.1 .978 38.1 Oakland 18 14 .562 1½ L1 134 120 .274 22 14 3.42 2.8 4.8 .975 33.3 Chicago 15 11 .577 1½ W1 115 101 .270 15 13 3.54 4.2 4.7 .981 42.1 California 16 12 .571 1½ L1 116 113 .252 21 26 3.76 3.4 4.7 .979 36.4 Kansas City 16 16 .500 3½ W1 162 173 .260 21 13 5.14 3.6 4.6 .991 25.7 Minnesota 11 15 .423 5½ L1 119 121 .261 32 13 4.27 3.8 5.9 .978 35.7 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Philadelphia 20 10 .667 - L1 168 118 .274 26 23 3.24 2.7 5.0 .979 47.8 St. Louis 19 11 .633 1 W4 126 104 .244 25 12 3.27 2.7 5.3 .984 56.0 New York 18 13 .581 2½ L3 120 121 .272 9 21 3.72 3.4 5.1 .984 46.7 Chicago 19 15 .559 3 W1 137 140 .259 29 13 3.77 3.6 4.4 .983 50.0 Pittsburgh 15 12 .556 3½ W3 100 88 .249 12 2 3.04 2.5 5.6 .983 27.8 Montreal 10 18 .357 9 L3 130 148 .261 28 14 4.61 3.4 5.2 .979 36.8 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Los Angeles 18 16 .529 - W1 109 113 .238 30 5 2.79 2.9 5.9 .976 35.3 San Francisco 19 18 .514 ½ L1 141 158 .249 33 23 3.83 3.3 5.2 .979 25.9 San Diego 15 19 .441 3 W1 128 126 .241 17 10 3.26 3.7 5.1 .976 55.0 Houston 14 20 .412 4 L1 148 175 .252 40 12 4.34 3.9 4.9 .965 26.7 Atlanta 12 19 .387 4½ L1 126 133 .268 26 9 3.95 2.9 5.8 .980 33.3 Cincinnati 12 20 .375 5 W1 150 159 .256 30 18 4.76 2.6 6.5 .978 33.3 One advantage of looking at this top to bottom is you see the other weirdnesses. Like, the Pirates are really bad at scoring so far and they do 100% employ 1-run strategies but they as a team are reeeeally slow, with 2 steals in just 5 attempts all season. I took a quick look at the bench coach (who makes stealing decisions) and nope, he's below average at stealing tendencies but only below average. Mostly they're just slow. I'm also still amazed Houston's both scored as many runs and given up as many as they have in the Astrodome, and also that they're this bad one year after seriously contending. They went 2-3 vs the Expos and Reds so... it's not getting any better (I'll have a review of them tomorrow). The Phillies swept a 3-game series at home against the Reds and then split 4 with the Cubs in Chicago; man, they are looking great, especially on offense. Speaking of great weeks, the Tigers feasted on the Royals and Brewers for a 5-1 record that established them as the cream of the East again. I guess that being said, the Red Sox were good too, splitting a 2-game series in Chicago against the other Sox and then sweeping the terrible Indians at home to go 5-1 themselves. St. Louis was the other team I hadn't mentioned who's on the upswing: they won 2 of 3 against San Francisco at the 'stick and then swept the Expos at home. How they're putting together such a good performance from their pitching staff, I can't tell you... but they are and that's what counts, right? OKAY so taking a little gander at the leaderboards for you ROTO BALL fans out there... White Sox SS John Johnson (.410, 1, 12) had his 22 game hitting streak end last week but is still chasing .400 early on. He's followed there by Rangers 1B Chris Seek (.392, 5, 17), who's been really putting it together after never being able to do a lot in San Francisco, and then Boston's LF Bruce Springsteen (.367, 4, 16). Ernesto Garcia (.285, 14, 29) of course leads in HRs and RBIs, followed by Twins' 1B Angelo Martinez (.270, 8, 23) with 8 HRs and 3 guys with 7, and then Alice Cooper (.314, 7, 24) and Mike Miller (.361, 7, 24) with RBIs. I guess I didn't mention the other guy with 7 dingers: that's Angels 2B Rodrigo Juarez (.228, 7, 19), who got a late start to the race, having only come to the AL on the 14th of April. Alvin Romero (.328, 1, 18) of course is still your SB man with 12 of them; he's followed by Cleveland 2B Mauricio Mendez (.243, 1, 10) with 8 and his former teammate, California SS Richard Simmons (.202, 1, 8). Simmons is out for the next couple weeks with back tightness so we'll probably see some moving there. Phillies LF Alberto Juantorena (.389, 5, 19) is also, I guess you could say, chasing .400 in the senior circuit, with Braves C Armando Flores (.357, 0, 16), coming off a season where he hit just .235, and Icelandic Mets CF Kell Isaakson (.350, 1, 15) behind him. Reds RF Jaden Weaver (.268, 11, 35) popped a couple dingers this week to make him one of two men in baseball in double figures; he also leads in RBIs. Big George Foreman (.298, 8, 26) is 2nd in both HRs and ribbies and again we've got a logjam of guys tied for 3rd with 7 HRs. Victor Serna (.311, 5, 25) is really turning his career around in Montreal and is 3rd with RBIs. I'll probably say this so many times I'll get sick and tired of it myself, but Serna was cut by the Phillies last year after hitting just .189 in 127 at-bats, then hitting .142 in 120 AAA at-bats after getting sent down to try to correct his swing. SF's Jon Berry (.350, 4, 13) joins Alvin Romero in the double-digit SB club with 10 of them; he's followed by Sonny Burwell (.250, 1, 4) in St. Louis with 9 and good old Alberto Juantoreno with 8. For pitching, there are appropriately enough exactly 3 guys with sub-2.00 ERAs so far: Detroit's Jimmy Goddard (6-1, 1.40), California's Gary "We Don't Talk About" Bruno (5-1, 1.68), and the White Sox' Rich Reese (3-2, 1.93). Vince Akright (7-1, 2.27) is one of two men with 7 wins; Jimmy Goddard has 6 and there's a medley of men with 5. Cleveland's Jose Martinez (1-5, 3.93) is getting no help on defense or offense but is still leading the league in Ks with 47 - he's also got an as-yet-undiagnosed injury so this could be the last we hear from him in a while. The men behind him are old stalwarts in strikeouts, Detroit's Edgar Molina (5-3, 3.03) with 43 and Boston's Michael Pesco (4-4, 2.78) with 42. And save-wise, Montay Luiso (0-1, 1.93) has saved 6 of Baltimore's 10 wins this season, and you've got to think they're going to stop using him so heavily when they're this bad. Two other ALers have 5: Cal's Tanzan Kihara (0-0, 0.00), who's also yet to give up a run in 10.2 innings, and Texas' Kojiro Nakazawa (1-1, 2.77). At least those guys play for good teams... yeesh. Fernando Apolonio (6-2, 1.29) just tossed 8 innings of 1-run ball to basically keep his ERA even from last week. He's followed not-closely by Philadelphia's Roger Quintana (3-3, 1.82) and Cardinals ace Raul Mendoza (4-1, 2.02). Billy Ording (7-0, 2.32) has been getting all the support and is the other 7-game winner in the MLB, with 2 guys at 6: Apolonio and Ording's teammate Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey (6-2, 3.27). Apolonio is the league leader in Ks too with 45, mostly just from throwing a lot of innings - he's only averaging 5.8/9 so far but is 2nd only to Starkey with 70 IP (Starkey's got 74.1). Atlanta's George House (4-3, 3.90) and Mendoza are right behind him with 44 apiece. House was on here the last time I looked, I think, and he's added a 1973-decent 10 in 15 innings of work so far in May. Finally, Geoff Saus (2-1, 2.84) continues to keep the Mets relevant with a league-high 9 saves in 12 opportunities (although he just blew one today in a loss to the Pirates). Travis Livingston (2-1, 2.70) has 7 of them for the Cardinals and then a number of guys have 6 including the DANGER ZONE Kenny Loggins (1-3, 3.86) who, as you can guess from the stats, has lived up to his nickname with 7 shutdowns but also 3 blown saves and 3 meltdowns so far; also he's walked 10 batters in 16.1 IP (and struck out 14; the man does throw one hard sinker). ## Major Transactions May 8: The Royals traded minor league P Ellison Onizuka (0-2, 4.20) to the Cardinals for P Edward James Olmos (0-2, 19.89). Olmos went from being really, really effective the previous 2 seasons to getting absolutely blown up in 1973, so badly in fact that the Cards had just sent him down to the minors to work on stuff. He probably still needs to do that and the fact that the Royals are trading back minor league depth in Onizuka tells me that maybe that will happen (I mean I do control everything). Onizuka has put up good AAA numbers the last 2 years (8-6, 2.79 in '71, 8-5, 2.80 in '72) but hasn't been able to translate that into major league success so far (5-11, 5.60 lifetime). Hopefully he can figuyre things out, although he's no longer a real prospect at 27 years of age. May 10: The Indians traded P Robbie Coltrane (2-2, 5.20) to the Rangers for P Kevin Freeman (3-0, 3.23) and minor league 1B George W. Bush (.175, 6, 13 in AAA Spokane). Freeman's been a big complainer about his lack of run support in Texas and so... he'll move to one of the few teams in baseball who are worse at scoring. Also in there is George W. Bush, who's totally a Texan through and through but didn't work out at all for this team and isn't looking so hot in the minors either. They get back Coltrane, who had a quality first full year in the bigs last year, going 10-10, 3.72 and leading the league in fewers BB/9 (1.7) but has curiously forgotten how to strike people out this year (just 11 Ks in 36.1 IP, a 2.7/9 rate). May 11: The Brewers claimed P Willie Garcia (no record in 1973) off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. Garcia missed the end of spring training and then the season to this date with a herniated disc in his back. He was awwwful last year (1-3, 8.46) in 4 September starts but has been a top prospect in years past and the Brew Crew is desperate for pitching right now. May 13: The Brewers claimed P Chris Allen (0-1, 7.20) off waivers from the Yankees. Hey, I said these guys were desperate for pitching. Allen was a solid reliever last year (1-1, 2.86) with excellent control and a meh assortment of pitches that included an okay cut fastball. He also has the rep of not being good in the clubhouse, which could really hurt a team like Milwaukee, but I guess on the other hand, how much can you really hurt a pitching staff that's already this bad (bullpen era so far: 7.63)? ## News May 7: A 71 day standoff between federal authorities and American Indian Movement activists who had been occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the leaders of the militants. They and 13 more people are arrested, the latter after they tried to slip through the line of federal agents who had surrounded the area. 120 members and sympathizers of the movement will surrender their weapons tomorrow. May 7: The government of Peru nationalizes the nation's fishing industry. Hey, not all stories are big. May 7: The state of Maryland ratifies the 15th Amendment, you know, hey, only a century behind schedule. Better late than never! Now the only states to not have ratified the amendment, which is the one that prohibits citizens' rights to vote based on race, are Kentucky (who will ratify in 1976) and Tennessee (who won't ratify until 1997!). I guess to a large degree it's all symbolic by this point since Constitutional amendments only require 3/4ths of the states to ratify and that was done the same year it went through Congress, but still, this seems like a really, really basic human right. May 7: The Washington Post is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the work by reporters Woodward and Berstein in investigating the Watergate scandal and cover-up. However, the individual prise goes to Robert Boyd and Clark Hoyt, who disclosed Senator Thomas Eagleton's history of psychiatric therapy, a discovery that led to his withdrawal as the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in 1972. May 7: White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.333, 5, 20) had been suffering from a power outage through April but last week he broke through, going 9-17 (.529) with 4 HRs, 11 RBIs, and 8 runs scored. Oh and also 7 walks for a .667 OBP. He's getting on base in half of his plate appearances this year. Unsurprisingly, this was enough to win him the AL PotW. He also won this award for the week ending August 15, 1971. May 7: Not gonna lie, I was really second-guessing the decision to hit the newcomer Robin Gibb (.304, 7, 16) in the 3 hole for the Dodgers. Last week, newly protected in the lineup by Justin Stone (.364, 2, 5), who'd missed all of April a fractured rib, Gibb went 11-25 (.440) with 2 solo HRs and 5 runs scored in total. Look, he was moving guys up to get knocked in by Stone, okay? This was Gibb's very first PotW award. He did finish 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting last season. May 7: In the interests of making this feel even more like a computer program, how about I add the weekly top 5 lists? The actual list the game gave me is WAR and what is that good for? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Instead I'll use this other advanced state, zone rating: 1. 2B Danny Fager, LAD (5.8) 2. LF Jared Ferrell, CAL (4.9) 3. 2B Paul McCartney, SD (4.8) 4. LF Lou Morgenstern, LAD (4.6) 5. CF Alvin Romero, DET (4.5) Converted center fielders playing in left are going to have high ZRs, it's true. Otherwise, yeah, Alvin Romero is an absolute beast. Danny Fager is a guy who doesn't make very many mistakes and last year this didn't really show through all that much because nobody was making very many mistakes; now that league FAs are about back to normal, he looks like a stud again. May 8: The government of the Sudan releases all of its political prisoners as a new constitution goes into effect which guarantees the right of a speedy and fair trial to anyone accused of breaking the law. Many of the persons freed had been members of opposition political parties who had been arrested in 1971 following a failed political coup. May 8: Lebanon's prime minister Amin Hafez resigns shortly after fighting breaks out between Lebanese troops and Palestine guerillas. May 8: Rangers RP Gabe Slaughter (0-1, 6.23), who's been good in the past, I swear, felt something bad in his arm when he came out on May 6 and it turns out that was bone chips. He'll have surgery to remove them shortly and will be out until 1974. He's still only 28 but hasn't had an ERA under 4 since 1970. May 8: White Sox SS John Johnson (.427, 1, 12) isn't just chasing .400 (see last week!), he's now on a 20 game hitting streak, which he just barely held onto with an 8th inning single to left in today's 3-2 win over the Red Sox. Johnson was one of the best hitters in the league in '69 and '70 before kind of falling apart the last 2 years. Was it all a big 2 year anomaly, or did he get talent hits and then a big boost? Only the OOTP gods know for sure. May 8: The Tigers somehow, some way, combine for a 12-hit shutout of the Royals, 4-0. Jimmy Goddard (6-1, 1.45) starts and just keeps getting out of jams inning after inning - the Royals leave 12 men on base through the first 7 innings. Finally in the 8th, shutout or no shutout, I have to take him out as he's thrown 151 pitches and also has put two more men on with a single and a walk (Goddard also walked 5 men this game). Jim Marceau came in and after allowing a passed ball, he gets Dave Corona (.301, 2, 13) to strike out looking and 2B James Ellroy (.394, 1, 6) to pop out to second base to retire the side. A scoreless (if not a LOB-less) 9th later and the man has the save. "Clutch hitting has been a real problem," said team captain Tony Danza (.311, 3, 12), who himself was 0-3 in RBI opportunities tonight. "We'd be on top of the division if we just got those runs in. I'm gonna call this person I'm working for about it. Angela!" May 8: The Mets haven't gotten shut down that often this year but Braves SP George House (4-3, 3.90) got it done in Shea Stadium today, pitching a 4-hit shutout to lift his team to a 4-0 victory. Mets starter John Ratzenberger (1-2, 4.70) meanwhile continued to have issues with the longball, allowing 4 of them in this game (he's allowed 9 in 38.1 IP so far and that's the biggest thing separating this year from last year's 11-12, 2.42 mark). Henry Riggs (.340, 4, 12) hit one of those blasts; he's at 549 now for his career. May 8: On the other hand the front of the Phillies rotation *has* been shutting people down this year and that is a deadly combination when mixed with their awesome lineup. Today it was the former Brewer Danny Plaunt (3-3, 3.34) who threw both his 3rd complete game and 3rd shutout with a 6-hitter against the Reds. "I think it's starting to click," said Plaunt, mildly. He's now on a 28-inning scoreless streak, with the last run he gave up coming on April 25th against the Braves. May 8: So I thought I was going to recap a third straight shutout - I even had a "what is this, beautiful world?" quote picked out - but Dodgers SP Ken Hansen (1-3, 3.93) held a 2-hitter into the 9th against the Pirates and then suddenly fell apart, giving up a single, a walk, and another single to load the bases. A Jason Davis (.241, 2, 11) passed ball later and the shutout was over with. I still kept Hansen in long enough to walk 3B Alex Flores (.321, 0, 9); he'd been pitching so well and was still under 100 pitches. Still, that loaded the bases. Alec Cosby (2-4, 3.38), who was sooo lights-out last year (7-5, 1.84, and a league-leading 32 saves), took the mound. He promptly gave up the GRAND SALAMI to LF Jerry Sherk (.364, 3, 8). Boom, a 4-0 shutout turned into a 5-4 Pirates lead and you know what happens when the Pirates are ahead... Paz Lemus (2-1, 0.84) threw a 1-2-3 9th for the win (he'd come in in the 8th inning - his 4th appearance in 5 days I should add). That win not only pushes the Pirates (12-11) over .500 for the first time this year since they were 3-2 on April 12, it drops the Dodgers (15-15), who opened the season 7-0 and 11-1, to .500 for the first time. May 8: Hey, why not just recap every game today, Syd??? The doubters were starting to really bury Padres 2B Paul McCartney (.297, 3, 19) when he went all of April without a HR; in fact, his first didn't come until May 5th. You can probably tell by the statline where this is heading... the Liverpudlian creator of such hits as "Yesterday" and "Let It Be" has now belted 3 HRs in the past 4 days. Today he hit another in the midst of a 3-5, 6 RBI day in a 15-1 rout of the Cubs at San Diego Stadium. Surprisingly the RBIs aren't a San Diego record - Alex Canales drove in 7 on September 16, 1969 - but 2 other San Diegans tied the team's runs record with 4: UT Dale Earnhardt (.303, 5, 17), who was 3-4 with 2 walks and a double, adding 3 RBIs himself, and CF Ed O'Neill (.252, 1, 7), who went 2-5 with a walk, a double, and an RBI. "I had a real Admiral Halsey of a first month," said McCartney after the game. "Now I'm putting in a... I haven't put out 'Live and Let Die' yet but trust me, that's how good this week is." May 9: The Soviet lunar rover encounters an accident due to a ground control mistake two days earlier that allowed dust to fall on the rover's solar cells. The batteries overheat due to this and it stops working on May 11, exactly 4 months after the January 11 launch. This will be the last time a motorized vehicle will move across the moon's surface until 2013 when China's Yutu rover will do in 2013. May 9: I guess the Phillies' lineup won't be quiiiiite so potent for the next two months, as 3B Mike Brookes (.296, 1, 13) will be out for the nxt 7 weeks with a strained PCL. The 6 time All-Star has had some real issues staying healthy the last couple years, missing 50 and 56 games in '71 and '72 respectively. Hopefylly when he returns he'll also return with his HR stroke! The Phillies will try to make do with a platoon of veteran Cris Ramos (.241, 0, 1) and Marco Villafana (.228, 7, 30 in AAA Eugene last year). May 9: Speaking of third base... the top 10 3B according to OSA this year: MISSING THE CUT: Jose Ayala (.343, 7, 19) would get there if postseason heroics was a critera (also he's blasting this season). Kristian Schneider (.286, 0, 12) and Bobby K (.269, 1, 10) feel practically like the same player to me. Robin Gibb (.300, 7, 16) is also raking but the game does not like him, at least not yet (he's still only 23). 10. Sean Gabel, CHC (.330, 1, 15). Gabel's certainly playing better than the #10 guy so far although I guess he's basically a singles hitter with a history of hitting .280-.290, not so much .330. 9. Marco Perez, BAL (.183, 1, 6). Perez is mired in a season-long slump and hasn't been particularly good the last 2 years either. What does set him apart and at least into the top 10 is his defense - he's a 5 time Gold Glove award winner with an 80 grade arm. 8. Brian Maccioli, CHW (.235, 1, 8). Man, this sure isn't the "guys who are performing this year" list. Maccioli is just starting to bust out of a slump himself. I still think that .283/16/61, which is what he did in 1971, is about the high side of his ability. 7. Mike Galeana, STL (.250, 1, 12). Now that Paul McCartney has started to hit HRs, this (I guess also Mike Brookes) is the last big time power hitter who hasn't started hitting for power in 1973. He's hitting for a decent average this year, at least (compared to the .217 last season which at that only got to that point because he hit well in September). 6. Pete Little, HOU (.336, 4, 14). Hey, a guy who's hitting well and is actually rated! Although this ranking would still I think leave him out of the All-Star Game. It's also a bit over Little's established ability. 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr., SD (.303, 5, 17). Earnhardt is really doing a Tony Phillips (who?) type deal where he fills in all over the place; the actual starter here at least for the time being is 40 year old Kevin Landry (.233, 0, 3). You have to rate Earnhardt somewhere though and this is as good a place as any. 4. George Harrison, SF (.353, 4, 17). The Giants have started to fall off a bit bu not so much George "My Sweet Lord" Harrison. He's also the kind of guy who could contend for a Gold Glove sooner rather than later. 3. Bobby Ramirez, CAL (.308, 2, 6). Out of all the trades Cleveland made in the offseason, this one could hurt the most. Like, Ernesto Garcia of course but Garcia seemed like he was angling his way out of Cleveland for years anyway and they got C John Lennon back for him, at least. Ramirez, though, looks like a batting title contender again after a rough sophomore season (.241, 13, 56). 2. Mike Brookes, PHI (.296, 1, 13). Obviously the Phils feel the sting of losing him here and the game does not consider availability an ability, let alone the best ability. When he's around though he's a power hitter who can walk 100 times a year and, last year aside, can also hit for a good average. It's devastating. 1. Tommy Weiss, NYY (.367, 3, 13). The real crime here is that the Yankees had this guy stashed in their minor league system until he forced them to use him when he was 28 years old. After a .253/18/65 season that was only a slump compared to Weiss's previous career levels, he looks like an early MVP candidate. May 9: Texas' Billy Crystal (4-2, 2.15) has had a good year in spite of some really spotty control (28 walks in 46.1 IP). Today he had just enough of it to power through a kind of bad Brewers lineup for a 2-0 shutout victory. Crystal, who struck out a relatively average 5.8 men per 9 last year, struck out 8 tonight while walking only 3. Last year, 3 was closer to his average. "My curve looked mahvelous," he said after the game. Yes, he does say that a lot, I know. May 10: President Nixons abandons his plan to reorganize the executive branch into a "super cabinet" of three members who would oversee the heads of federal departments and agencies. May 10: The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 102-93 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win the NBA Championship. May 10: I guess nobody's paying attention to baseball tonight because the Stanley Cup playoffs conclude today as well. The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in Game 6 of a best-of-5 series. Yes, that's what Wikipedia says. Game 6 of a best of 5... okay, upon further research the news article was a typo and this was a best-of-7 that ended in 6 games with the Canadiens winning games to 2. May 10: I feel like every year I'm not going to have any good rookies when camp breaks and then every year someone ends up working out. Maybe this year it'll be Tigers C Joel Moise (.229, 2, 13). He hasn't been doing much at the plate but today he blew up for 5 RBIs in a 3-4 game where he was a triple away from the cycle in a 13-2 rout of the Royals (who I guess to be fair TOOOOO BEEEEEEE FAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR are bad at pitching). I think the game still says Gianluigi Farinelli (.353, 1, 4) is the better option but a. he's 5 years older, and b. don't be fooled by that average - this man his .197 last year. May 10: We've got some early-season big division goings-on in the AL West with the White Sox (14-8) taking on the Angels (13-11) at the Big A and the Rangers (14-9) hosting the A's (17-11) at Arlington Stadium. Hey, it was a bad division last year but teams seem like they're better and also with badness comes, perhaps, a close pennant race. Both the A's and Rangers have insane home/road splits - the Rangers have not lost a game at home yet (8-0) whereas the A's are 11-2 at home and 6-9 on the road... so I expect a sweep here. Well, Game 1 came out like I thought it would at least, although closer Kojiro Nakazawa (1-1, 2.77) sure made it exciting before getting DH Casey Satterfield (.233, 5, 17) to fly out before ending the 9th and winning it 4-3. Newcomer Robbie Coltrane (3-2, 4.67 overall) pitched into the 9th in his first outing for Texas but then gave up a leadoff double to 3B Alex Canales (.315, 4, 17). He hasn't been so great this year at getting out of jams so I popped the closer in with the score 4-1. Nakazawa allowed a single, a bunt, and a sac fly to make it 4-3 with C Texas Josh Lewis (.282, 1, 12) up and a man on 2nd. I intentionally walked the man (I'm trying out taking over pitching decisions because what the heck) to face Casey Satterfield. Nakazawa wild-pitched runners to 2nd and 3rd before getting Satterfield to fly to center on the very next pitch. In California, the Angels have a pretty similarly large home/road split (7-3 at home, 6-8 away) and like the Rangers they take advantage in a 3-1 win. Andy Ring (2-3, 2.85) goes all the way, gives up 7 hits, striking out 6 and walking one. One piece of bad news here is that SS Richard Simmons (.202, 1, 8) hurt his back when 1B Alice Cooper (.325, 6, 22) slid into him to break up a double play. He looks to be out for the next couple weeks. May 11: Sweden's parliament enacts the world's first computer protection law, the Data Act (Datalagen) to take effect on July 1, 1974. Also their parliament is called the Riksdag, which I'm sure is just because Swedish is very closely related to German, but COME ON YOU DON'T SEE AMERICA NAMING OUR STUFF AFTER THE REICHSTAG. May 11: Speaking of Germany, the BUNDESTAG - see, Sweden? - votes 268-217 to ratify a treaty with East Germany that has a name that's like 30 characters long. In a separate vote, the opposition party CDU breaks ranks and joins in a 358-127 vote for West Germany to join the United Nations despite a condition that East Germany would also be admitted. Like, I'm too lazy to look this up but doesn't West Germany have a communist plant high up in their government at about this time? I think his name is Willy Brandt? May 11: All federal espionage charges against Daniel Ellberg arising from the 1971 leak of the "Pentagon Papers" are dismissed because of government misconduct in prosecution and evidence-gathering. "The bizarre events have incurably infected the results of the case," said judge William Byrne. May 11: Aeroflot Flight 6551 crashes, killing all 63 people on board. It's a little funny to this observer that while we are freaking out about all these instances of flaws being found on Boeing planes which then make it safely back to an airport, there were soooo many just straight up crashes 50 years ago. Some of them were hijackings, to be sure, and this one was a (probably poorly maintained) Soviet airliner, but even so... not to absolve Boeing or anything but air travel is so much safer now, it's crazy. May 11: Lex Barker, best known for portraying Tarzan in five films, dies at the age of 54. May 11: I figured this was inevitable but 1B Pete Jennings (.282, 2, 4), who has been splitting time at first base with the newly arrived slugger Aitor de la Rosa (.311, 4, 17), is unhappy with this role and wants to start. Look, Pete, I'll trade you off as soon as I can. In the meantime... hmm, I was just about to say I have no room but I'm gonna make room. Ryan Johnston (.091, 0, 1) is serviceable in center, where Marc Ash (.132, 0, 3) has been terrible (and he hit .183 for Montreal last year too - he might be done) and de la Rosa can play in left. This move will also allow me to get de La Rosa in the lineup daily. Thanks for being the squeaky wheel, Pete! May 11: Bruce Rubio (2-2, 3.11) wins a pitcher's duel against the Brewers' Igacio Visco (1-1, 1.84), throwing a 6-hit shutout to win the game 1-0. Rubio looked like he was about to fall apart as seems to happen a lot in this game, I don't know... in the 9th he got the leadoff man, LF Steve Winwood (.261, 3, 10) to pop up to 3rd, then gave up a single, a walk (to slumping Adam Dittmar (.120, 1, 6) of all people) and a hit by pitch to load the bases before he fiiiiinally settled down to strike out SS Francisco Carrasco (.214, 0, 4) swinging and then get pinch-hitter Kozue Nakamura (.321, 0, 4) to hit the ball in the general direction of centerfield, which is to say a place where Alvin Romero (.314, 1, 17) could catch it. "Clean living and a fast outfield, that's my key to success," said Rubio after the game. May 11: The Rangers improve to 10-0 at home, taking down the A's easily 7-2. This one was close through 6 until Texas got to A's starter Carlos Torres (2-5, 5.17) and reliever Doug Ellis (0-1, 2.79) for 4 runs in the 7th off of a bunch of singles and a Roberto Hernandez (.293, 3, 17) triple. 26 year old rookie Robert McHughh (3-2, 3.77) went 8+ innings, leaving in the 9th after walking the leadoff man Casey Satterfield (.245, 5, 18). May 11: The "home team wins" trend continues for the other big early AL West series too, with Angels SP Gary Bruno (5-1, 1.68) throwing a 7-hit shutout to erase the White Sox 4-0. Bruno did load the bases in the 9th with an unintentional intentional walk to 1B Alice Cooper (.325, 6, 22) but hey, it all went according to play when 3B Brian Maccioli (.226, 1, 8) struck out for the 4th time (Bruno had 8 Ks total) to end the game. C Shaun Dennehy (.173, 1, 6) earns the GWRBI with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the 2nd; he had a multi-hit game today and maybe he's breaking out of a... 1 1/12 year-long slump. Okay, maybe not. May 12: Two American mountaineers and one Nepalese sherpa make the highest ascent of a mountain without using supplemental oxygen, ascending to the summit of Dhaulagiri in the Himalayan range, 26,795 feet above sea level (I think the sherpa may have used oxygen but he was 100% one of the three people who summitted and it always seems like they get short shrift in these things). May 12: The Indiana Pacers win the ABA championship in game 7 of the best-of-7 series, beating the Kentucky Colonels 88-81 in Louisville. May 12: Monika Ertl, the 35 year old German-born Bolivian terrorist/"freedom fighter", known for her mission to avenge the execution of Che Guevara, is ambushed and killed by the Bolivian Army. May 12: This is last because it's listed under deaths but... the Indy 500 was held today and it was pretty bad. Art Pollard is killed during time trials after crashing at 191.4 miles per hour. David "Swede" Savage will later be killed in the race itself and then Armando Moreno, a member of one of the pit crews, will die instantly after being hit by a fire truck racing to Savage's crash site. May 12: Marco Sanchez (4-4, 3.19) evened his record up against the hapless Indians, who I even reviewed today (see below) for a 9-0 win. Sanchez, not the most stamina'ed pitcher, threw 137 pitches because, pitch count or no, the man was throwing a shutout. This one was actually still close into the 7th when starter Jose Martinez (1-5, 3.93), down only 2-0, allowed 2 straight singles to LF Bruce Springsteen (.346, 4, 14) and RF Tom Brown (.300, 1, 15) before 1B Mike Miller (.350, 7, 22) hit a 3-run HR to put it out of reach. To add insult to injury, literally, Martinez left the game with an as-yet-undiagnosed arm injury on the play. May 12: Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.293, 14, 29), who is showing no signs of stopping whatsoever in his first year in the Bronx, hit his 300th career homerun in a monster, 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI day and a 5-4 Yankees win over the Orioles, who fall to 9-19 with the loss. Garcia homered in the 4th and the 8th off of Orioles starter George Dapson (3-3, 4.04) and then figured directly into the game winner in the bottom of the 10th inning as he was intentionally walked so that reliever Heiner Flassbeck (1-1, 4.38) (Montay Luiso (0-1, 1.93, 6 Sv) was tired and the Orioles are just not playing well enough to want to abuse his arm) could face LF Aitor de la Rosa (.338, 4, 14). Flassbeck walked de la Rosa and boom, ballgame over. "I'm not just the straw that stirs the drink," said an especially arrogant Garcia following the game. "I am the whole drink." Just as a side note, I took a look at his ratings in the editor and what I've been saying is right - he's got league-leading but not necessarily Barry Bonds level power, but plays in a very favorable stadium just like last year. 25 even has a new feature on this screen where not only will it approximate stats in a modern environment the way it always has done, it will now do so using your LTMs too. According to those he should "only" be getting 44 dings. The fact that he's on pace for 81 and also has had 65+ over the last 2 years is park effects and luck I guess... May 12: In Texas, the A's finally hand the Rangers their first loss at home all season and it takes a great effort by P Rick Shelton (5-1, 2.51) to get them there. Shelton pitches a 5-hitter and carries a shutout into the 9th inning; he gives up a single run to miss the line in the stat-books but still gets the CG and the W. The game was still 2-0 in the 9th when backup C Ramiro Gonzalez (.158, 0, 3, and he's only in here because Texas Josh Lewis was tired) slapped a 2-run single off of Rangers reliever Nate Kemp (1-0, 2.45). The win puts the A's back to 18-13 and a half game behind the Rangers, who are 16-10. May 12: Meanwhile in California, Al Gore (2-4, 6.63), aka the Inconvenient Truth, has had a big problem with the longball this year, especially on the road. He's allowed 10(!) HRs already, including 8 away from home in just 19 innings. At home on the other hand... Gore not only didn't give up the longball, he scattered 7 hits in a complete-game shutout of the White Sox, 7-0, that improved his team to 16-11 on the season. "I just kept the cutter in my lockbox," said Gore, who only struck out one but benefitted from some solid defense tonight. RF Jared Ferrell (301, 3, 17) went 4-5 with 4 RBIs and prevented a run with a diving stop in the 8th inning. Also happening today - or I guess not happening - is that White Sox SS John Johnson (.416, 1, 12) went hitless in 4 at-bats, ending his hitting streak at 22 games. May 13: Bobby Riggs defeats Margaret Court, the #1 ranked women's tennis player, in a nationally televised tennis match, 6-2, 6-1. Riggs, 55 at the time, is 25 years Court's senior and is very much playing the wrestling heel. This near-whitewashing will lead the huge Battle of the Sexes match between him and Billie Jean King on September 20 (which, since that'll still be during the season, wait for the results!). May 13: Man, only three weeks into his time in Atlanta, 37 year old 3B Nate Ringstad (.273, 2, 5) is already complaining that he wants to start. He hasn't started the majority of his team's games since 1966 but I guess Atlanta's 3B situation is in the air. At the same time, while Mike Morison (.347, 1, 12) isn't a super fantastic player himself, he's off to a hot start and is 6 years younger, so for now I'm just going to keep everything as-is... well, I'll work him in *slightly* more and with him also spelling Jon Hernandez (.233, 2, 11) at first vs lefties, he's practically a platoon starter now. May 13: Orioles SP TJ Ziegler (1-6, 2.93) picks up his first win and his first shutout of the season, all at the same time, in a 4-0 win over the Yankees in the first game of a double-header. Ziegler allowed only 4 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts as he tamed a powerful New York lineup. "My arm was feeling it at the end but coach kept me out there and we saw it through," said Ziegler after the game. May 13: The White Sox avoid the series sweep in Anaheim by knocking off the Angels 6-2. Chris Messina (1-4, 4.91) pitched 6.1 quality innings to earn his first win of the season and 1B Alice Cooper (.314, 7, 24) launched his 7th homer of the year in the top of the 1st to give Chicago a lead they wouldn't relinquish. "No more Mister Nice Guy," said Cooper after the game. "It's time we took this race into our own hands." May 13: And in Texas, they narrowly avoid an extra inning game in the face of a Monday double-header against the Twins as the Rangers rally in the bottom of the 9th to edge the A's 4-3. Billy Crystal (5=2. 2.29) went all the way for Texas, managing to get there in spite of allowing 12 hits and striking out only 3. His counterpart Ben Lamar (0-0, 3.38) was a spot-starter today and did throw a quality start. Willis Chavez (1-3, 1.76), who only seems to give up runs when the game is on the line, allowed a 2-out single to DH Jimmy Washington (.260, 4, 14) for the walkoff. May 13: Following a 10-2 drubbing at the hands of the Braves in the first game of a double-header, the Padres picked up a 1-0 win that featured both starters leaving early because of a big rain delay. Well... "featured" might be a strong word. The lone run of the game came on a Dale Earnhardt (.283, 7, 21) homer in the top of the 9th off of Ernesto Carillo (1-2, 4.00). Colin Rose (1-1, 1.55) went 6 scoreless innings but had to leave due to said delay; Padres starter Cesar Barreras (4-2, 3.10) managed to go 8 but his arm was dead heading into the 9th so Darius Parchman (1-2, 0.51) came in to work the 9th for his 5th save. ## Teams in Review May 12: The first "legitimate" review of the year! The Indians are 10-20, so if anything they are overdue since they started the year out at 4-17. They're actually not so bad at scoring runs so far, tied for 6th in the AL and 14th overall, but the pitching is very bad. That's just weird, man: with the cleanout over the offseason I barely touched the pitching. They're not even super-terrible defensively: the ZR is 9th and negative but there are worse teams out there, and they're only tied for 5th in errors. I guess by defensive efficiency they are legitimately 2nd worst in the AL... how much of that is luck though? Rotation: As expected from the bad pitching report, a lot of guys are underachieving, including Robert Rivera (3-2, 4.40) and Dylan Hamilton (2-3, 4.30). That said, the worst culprit who's still on the team is Miguel Chavez (1-5, 8.44). I've been reticent to cut him entirely because he does have a history of success and even last year he was 13-9, albeit with a bloated 4.17 ERA. I'm still not going to cut him outright; instead I will move the 28 year old rookie Rocky Richard (0-0, 2.45) into the rotation for now and see if Chavez can work it out in long relief. Honestly, his walk rate's been high this year but most of the awfulness has been spurred on by a .380 BABIP so... Bullpen: The AL really only needs 4 guys in the 'pen, especially when you're using a 5 man rotation, but everyone in there is old and so would wind up being a DFA or a minors-assignment-refusal/release. In addition to Chavez, 30 year old Miguel Hernandez (0-0, 5.06) is in danger, although he was 9-4, 1.91 for St. Louis last year. Also Gerardo Herrera (0-0, 7.27), who's "only" out of minor league options. I'm going to try to sneak him through waivers. Like, worst case scenario, we losee a guy who gave up more walks than strikeouts last year in his "good" year. Infield: Just as I acquired 1B George W. Bush (.175, 6, 13 in AAA Spokane), Nick Hodzik (.272, 4, 11) is looking like he could be adequate. Bush will stay up as a power-hitting pinch-hitting alternative; the biggest issue here, outside of Bush's inability to hit for average in the major leagues, is that both he and Hodzik are lefties so I can't platoon. One thing I did do when I acquired Bush is drop him into 1B and Hodzik into DH; hey, maybe Dubya's power will translate in the Mistake better than it did in Arlington Stadium. Tyler Knight (.214, 2, 4) is about what I'd expect out of a converted shortstop playing third base: good defense (I guess not great though) and an inadequate stick. I don't really see a better alternative at the moment. It looks like my minor league GM signed 3B Travis Corley (.210, 0, 4 in AAA OKC) to a minor league deal but as noted he's not even hitting in AAA right now. The other option is career organizational guy Tony Aguillon (.286, 0, 3), who isn't anything to write home about either but I guess isn't going to be any worse than Tyler Knight. I'll just start mixing him in at 3rd... and first I guess. The Indians have nobody remotely close to the majors at this position either; it's like they had 2 guys last year who could do the job but both got traded off or something. Outfield: Right now, Richard Berman (.267, 0, 7) is out with a herniated disc in his back but otherwise the outfield looks... fine. Like, nobody is absolutely horrible at least. There aren't any stars - 2 years ago they had 3 plus players out there but they traded them all away - but for a team that could very easily lose 100, they aren't doing too badly out here. There are minor leaguers who look closer here but a. nobody that highly rated (Cleveland has all of 2 guys in the top 200 prospects list right now, both of them pitchers) and b. by "closer" I mean they still aren't all that close. May 13: These things are about to come in droves... the Cincinnati Reds (11-20, 5 1/2 GB) were supposed to be better than this but... they are not. Early on, it's clearly the pitching that's the culprit - 4th worst ERA in baseball, and 3rd from the bottom in the NL in runs scored. The defense is truly not helping, as they're actually 2nd in Ks. The hitting's been average, which, it was supposed to be a bit better. We'll see what needs to be changed. Rotation: The worst culprit. Amadou Toumani Toure (1-4, 7.36) has already been sent down to the minors to work on his stuff, so I don't know, the starting pitching doesn't look terrible to me. The worst guy by ERA is Tracey Larazabal (1-3, 4.67), who, as expected, is also the 5th starter. I guess if anything the front-liners aren't quite as lights-out as they could but but that's no cause for demotions. Bullpen: Likewise, I've already made the biggest change, which was pushing Pete Lynn (0-2, 5.25) out of the closer role in favor of Brian Yates (2-1, 3.18, 2 Sv). Yates has that mid-90s, high-K stuff that you want out of a closer so that's nice. Bastien Maurice (0-0, 7.20) has been kind of bad as the lefty specialist but he was good last year and those guys can have, like, 1 or 2 bad outings that makes everything else look bad, so he'll stay too. Infield: C Oliver Williams (.198, 3, 11) is following up a bad year (.209, 8, 41) by struggling to hit above the Timonen line and with the young left-handed bat of Leron Lee (.296, 0, 4) right there, I think it's time to work out a platoon arrangement at the position, to be re-evaluated later. I'm going to trrrry and see if I can work in Bobby Kraljevic (.262, 2, 14) in at 1st to spell Alonzo Huanosta (.258, 2, 12), who's now going on his 3rd straight "off year" and so maybe these aren't "off years" after all. That means more PT for Chris Moore (.222, 0, 0). Does he deserve it? Like, we'll see, Scoob! SS Dusty McCully (.259, 2, 10), in his 2nd year with the team now, is providing mediocre offense and defense at a primary defensive position. The backup Mike Wendt (.278, 0, 2) isn't any better and there's nobody truly ready on the farm. I did tell the AAA manager to force-start IF Erico Liserio (.312, 2, 6) there, as he appears to have untapped potential at the position at 27 years of age. He doesn't look like he'll ever be a great gloveman either but he definitely looks like a better hitting option. Outfield: CF Jake Leone (.149, 1, 4) was bought on the cheap from the Pads last November and now we can see why: he's also not that good of a fielder and he hasn't hit either. With Dennis bin Naim (.162, 0, 3 at AAA Indianapolis) stinking it up in the minors, the only other option right now is Robert Hopkins (.185, 1, 2) and it's not too great. I've already got Hopkins mixing in pretty heavily there and I'll just continue to do so for now, hoping someone will remember how to swing a bat. Hmm... oooooooor... I know we made a giant error with The Horse Dan Issel (.191, 3, 11 at AAA Indianapolis) when we called him up too soon last year (he hit .139/2/7 in 39 games and as you can see, maybe we wrecked his confidence) but... why not make the same mistake twice? Minor league CF Manny Trillo (.246, 3, 6 at AA Trois-Rivieres) is, in this world at least, not the best CF in town but he's the Reds' #1 prospect and the #8 guy in all of baseball. This team is going nowhere so why not?
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03-26-2024, 01:11 PM
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May 15-21, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Detroit 25 13 .658 - L1 173 131 .294 30 28 3.16 3.3 5.5 .982 37.8 New York 22 15 .595 2½ W6 171 168 .263 40 11 4.19 2.6 4.6 .983 40.0 Boston 19 14 .576 3½ W1 158 96 .281 29 9 2.80 2.8 5.4 .981 52.0 Baltimore 12 22 .353 11 L1 135 150 .252 27 13 3.79 3.8 4.9 .972 44.0 Milwaukee 11 25 .306 13 W1 150 216 .263 27 26 5.28 4.1 4.7 .979 45.5 Cleveland 12 27 .308 13½ L5 138 205 .248 37 17 4.89 3.3 5.5 .982 25.8 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Texas 23 12 .657 - W1 144 108 .262 25 15 2.68 3.6 5.3 .981 38.7 Chicago 22 12 .647 ½ W2 144 117 .266 26 19 3.14 3.6 4.8 .980 40.9 California 20 15 .571 3 L1 152 149 .266 25 31 3.97 3.6 4.8 .981 46.4 Oakland 21 18 .538 4 W3 156 147 .272 25 15 3.37 3.0 4.9 .974 40.7 Kansas City 17 22 .436 8 L5 192 214 .260 25 16 5.08 3.7 4.8 .988 26.8 Minnesota 13 22 .371 10 L2 140 152 .244 38 17 3.92 3.5 5.4 .977 33.3 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% St. Louis 23 13 .639 - W1 155 128 .248 33 14 3.35 2.7 5.5 .982 53.8 Chicago 23 17 .575 2 L1 167 160 .257 36 16 3.72 3.7 4.5 .985 50.0 Pittsburgh 19 14 .576 2½ W1 124 106 .248 13 3 3.00 2.8 5.6 .983 35.0 Philadelphia 21 16 .568 2½ W1 188 149 .257 29 26 3.41 2.8 5.0 .976 48.0 New York 20 15 .571 2½ L1 129 133 .268 9 24 3.62 3.4 5.0 .983 41.2 Montreal 12 21 .364 9½ L1 152 177 .262 29 17 4.63 3.5 5.3 .977 31.8 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% San Francisco 24 19 .558 - L1 167 172 .253 39 31 3.61 3.1 5.2 .981 22.6 Los Angeles 19 21 .475 3½ L1 127 141 .241 34 8 2.95 2.9 5.7 .977 27.3 Houston 18 23 .439 5 W1 167 199 .250 46 15 4.16 3.8 5.3 .968 25.0 Cincinnati 17 22 .436 5 L1 176 175 .257 35 21 4.21 2.7 6.3 .978 28.1 San Diego 17 24 .415 6 W1 144 149 .244 20 13 3.14 3.5 5.2 .975 42.9 Atlanta 15 23 .395 6½ W1 149 156 .265 29 12 3.83 3.1 5.9 .980 32.3 Overall, I do not like what's going on in the NL West. Man, we probably shouldn't have traded Rodrigo Juarez (.274, 8, 25) although I guess on the other hand he'd have been a first baseman for the Giants where he gets to play 2nd for California. Fortunately for SF, nobody else in the division is even .500 now. I know Cincy and San Diego were preseason media darlings but things have not worked out so far, to say the least. I think I covered the league leaders last week but what the heck... Red Sox LF Bruce Springsteen (.380, 4, 19) is really making the Brewers rue the day they traded him off; he hit .450 this week (9-20) to steal the top spot in the batting race from the White Sox' John Johnson (.375, 2, 15). 3B Bobby Ramirez (.373, 4, 12), just traded from California to Texas this week and the 1971 batting champ, is 3rd in the race. HR wise it's a real doozy between Ernesto Garcia (.291, 16, 36) and Alice Cooper (.339, 13, 32) with the Twins' Angelo Martinez (.264, 10, 29) also joining the double-digit HR club this week. That's also your 1-3 in RBIs. Speaking of double digits, Alvin Romero (.323, 2, 23) is still the only ALer with more than 10 steals (13) but Cleveland's 2B Mauricio Mendez (.250, 2, 13) is close with 9, as is the aforementioned Bobby Ramirez with 8. Rich Reese (5-2, 1.30) of the White Sox is still the surprising ERA leader and he threw 18 scoreless innings this week to expand his lead over Detroit's ace Jimmy Goddard (7-1, 1.65) and California's Gary Bruno (6-1, 1.73). Vince Akright (8-2, 2.32) still paces the AL in wins but now both Goddard and Goddard's teammate Edgar Molina (7-3, 2.90) are breathing down his neck. Molina also leads the league in Ks with 55, followed by Michael Pesco (5-5, 2.76) with 49 and Akright and the injured Jose Martinez (1-5, 3.93) with 47 apiece. Then in saves the top 2 guys are now teammates: Texas' Kojiro Nakazawa (1-1, 2.45) and just-traded-for Tanzan Kihara (0-1, 1.20) both have 7. Montay Luiso (0-1, 1.85) only pitched in 1 game for the reeling Orioles last week but he's still 3rd with 6. The NL doesn't really have anyone, sadly chasing .400. Alberto Juantorena (.349, 7, 21) is inches ahead of the Mets' CF Kjell Isaakson (,343, 1, 15), with Atlanta's Mike Morrison (.336, 1, 14), who had just 40 at-bats last year, playing way over his head in 3rd. Jaden Weaver (.261, 11, 39) leads the NL in both HRs and RBI, followed closely by Joshua "Superman" Waltenbery (.294, 10, 22), now with Houston, and then Superman's teammate George Foreman (.299, 9, 31) and, following a 2-HR game, San Diego's Dale Earnhardt (.291, 9, 25). Foreman's also the #2 man in RBIs with, weirdly I guess, Philadelphia's #5 hitter Greg Lake (.290, 5, 26) in 3rd. I guess this is where you are when you get all those RBI opportunities from hitting behind Juantorena, who by the way is also lapping the field with a .471 OBP to date. The Giants' LF Jon Berry (.349, 5, 17) actually passed Romero in steals this week, as he has 13 now, and he's followed by the Cardinals' CF Sonny Burwell (.243, 1, 6) with 11 - Burwell's kind of having an off year except for the thefts - and Juantorena with 9. Fernando Apolonio (7-2, 1.64) fell just behind the all-time record ERA pace by allowing 4 runs in 7 innings in his last start but he's still #1 in the league, followed by... OH YEAH knuckleball ace Colin Rose (2-1, 1.66) of Atlanta and Don Henley (6-1, 1.76) of the Eagles and also the Padres. Apolonio also co-leads in wins now with Billy Ording (7-1, 3.13) who didn't make it past the 6th inning in 2 starts this week (0-1, 8.00), with Ording's Philadelphia teammate Richard Starkey (6-3, 3.32) also right there with 6. Tony Rivera (5-4, 3.76) had an absolute beast of a week with 22 Ks in 17.1 IP (2-0, 1.56); he now leads the NL with 58 of them, 1 more than Atlanta's George House (4-5, 4.67) and 7 more than Bullet Bill Vanover (4-2, 2.71), who's never been a strikeout man before in spite of throwing a mid-90s heater. OOTP25 changes things. Geoff Saus (3-2, 3.77) has gotten rocked recently but still leads all of baseball with 9 saves, followed by Travis "Doctor" Livingston (2-1, 2.55) with 8 and a 3-way tie at 6: The Assassin John Booth (3-0, 1.42 in spite of only 4 Ks in 25.1 IP), Houston's Vince Bump (1-1, 1.77), who is now out for the season, and of course Paz "Sparky" Lemus (4-1, 1.04), who actually only played in 1 game because the starting rotation in front of him decided to complete everything. ## Major Transactions May 14: The Mets purchased minor league 1B Jim Davis (.250, 8, 21 in AAA Omaha) from the Royals for $20,000. Davis stunk in the big leagues last year (.164, 8, 14) and, now that the Royals went out and acquired Alonzo Rivera (.326, 0, 18), it looks like maybe he's rediscovered his stroke. He can do so now with the Mets, who have a guy in Garry Trudeau (.333, 0, 4) who was hitting OK in the majors but has been a 20something pinch-hitter in the minors. Now Davis gets a chance to be the guy who replaces Joshua "Superman" Walternbery (.258, 6, 17) in the hearts and minds of Mets fans. May 14: The Braves traded C Armando Flores (.357, 0, 16) to the Tigers for C Gianluigi Farinelli (.381, 1, 4). Farinelli's hit "well" but in 21 at-bats this year, so let's not go crazy here. He was .197/7/45 as Detroit's starter in 1972 and so they'll move on to Flores, who's hitting the tar out of the ball so far. For the Braves, this looks like more of a chance to transition to their catcher prospect Christopher Guess (.273, 0, 0), who's played even less than Farinelli but is 24 and, well, let's be honest, this is not the Braves' year. May 19: The Braves traded a minor league prospect OFer (.327, 0, 20 in AA) to the Cubs for John Timonen (.139, 0, 2). For Chicago, this move allows them to commit fully to the 24 year old Charles Bradley (.188, 1, 5). Timonen is of course a fantastic fielder - frankly, he's even better than Oniji Handa now - but he can't hit. He's basically Ray Oyler (who?). The guy the Cubs got back for him could be OK. He just got promoted to Richmond but that .327 is a pretty empty .327, and although he's playing CF in Atlanta's system he is straight up not cut out for the 8. Atlanta had Pedro Almodovar (.256, 0, 5) at short - well, they still have him - but he was starting too look like a poor man's Timonen and... when you have the poor man's John Timonen, why not just get the real one? May 20: The Angels traded 3B Bobby Ramirez (.368, 4, 12) and RP Tanzan Kihara (0-1, 1.20, 7 Sv) to the Rangers for 1B Chris Seek (.358, 5, 18), minor league P Bernd Eichinger (4-4, 3.21 at AAA Spokane), and minor league RF Douglas Adams (.269, 3, 9 at AA Pittsfield). Don't call it a white flag trade! The Angels have been kInd of dissatisfied with Willie Vargas' (.316, 1, 14) lack of power at first base for a while and although Ramirez looks like he's back to being a contender for the batting title, they've got a hot prospect waiting in the wings at third: local boy Mac Aaronson (.371, 5, 25), the 13th overall pick in the 1970 amateur draft and also kind of a big deal in astronomy circles. Texas reuinites Ramirez with his old teammate Roberto Hernandez (.269, 5, 22), adds a top reliever in Kihara, and didn't even need to walk away from their top, heartbreaking prospect RF Tom Petty (.304, 5, 13 at AAA Spokane). ## News May 14: Skylab, the first space station of the United States, is launched but is seriously damaged during liftoff. The scheduled May 15 liftoff of the Skylab crew is postponed as a result. May 14: The British House of Commons votes to abolish capital punishment... in Northern Ireland. There are two things that could have happened here, neither of which covers the UK in glory: either they'd already outlawed it everywhere else but kept it in place to handle annoying IRA types (which I think is what happened) or else they're trying out no-DP actions in the country for the first time. May 14: The US opens its first diplomatic mission with the Peoples' Republic of China. See, Nixon wasn't all bad! Like, actually, yes, he was absolutely terrible inasmuch as he tried to tap his opponents' phones in the 1972 election and that alone makes him a horrible human being. In terms of actual policy though he was even sort of progressive: he's the guy who opened the way for China, he established the EPA, and even tried running some price controls during the oil crisis. May 14: Truffaut premeieres his movie Day for Night out of competition at the Cannes festival. May 14: I brought it up briefly when discussing the strikeout leaders last week but Jose Martinez (1-5, 3.93) did indeed get diagnosed with forearm inflammation, a malady that will send him to the long-term DL and will keep him out of action until August at the earliest. Fernandez is currently leading the AL in Ks with 47 and has 4 complete games in 7 starts in spite of a bad record and a high-ish ERA (the AL ERA is 4 this year - yeah, really! - so it's not thaaaat high). I guess if you;'re going to miss time in any season, do it in the one where your team is 10-22. May 14: Meanwhile, Brewers 2B James Hong (.358, 2, 5), who was expected to be back from a fractured wrist some time around the end of this month, suffered a setback and now will be out until after the All-Star Break. I guess the upside is, 28 year old Wing-fung Yi (.287, 4, 13) will now really and truly get a chance to show what he's made off in the big leagues. Yi was a starter for the Yankees in 1970 but wasn't ready, hitting .208/4/39 in 113 games and 366 at-bats, although he was solid at 2nd. He got traded to the Brewers, missed a lot of time with a torn thumb ligament, and then spent most of last year in the minor leagues, where he hit .249/12/41 in 241 at-bats at AAA Evanston. May 14: Mike Miller's (.361, 7, 24) been a recurring player in these Player of the Week blurbs, although not as much the past couple years. Well, the times, they have changed and now Miller has his 2nd award in 3 weeks with a 12-25 (.480), 3 HR, 10 RBI performance for a Red Sox team that went 5-1 last week. This is Millers' 9th career PotW; could he contend for another MVP (answer: not unless Ernesto Garcia gets hurt). May 14: Padres 2B Paul McCartney (.302, 3, 20) just hit his 1st HR of the year on May 5. Last week he "only" added 1 but other wise went 10-23 (.435) with 9 RBIs in 6 games to win the PotW. The former Beatles bassist and 1971 rookie of the year has pretty much been a mainstay in the middle of the San Diego lineup since he joined the team. This is his 3rd PotW although weirdly his first since 1971 (the week ending June 20). May 14: It's time for SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK: this week's a crazy one, the top 5 relief pitchers in K/9 at night. This time of the year, it's small sample size theater: 1. Graham Panarello, CIN (1-1, 3.98): 9.6 2. Jon Douglas, LAD (0-1, 6.97): 9.0 3. Victor Marin, MIL (0-1, 7.98): 8.2 4. Tom Grohs, PHI (2-2, 4.02, 4 Sv): 8.1 5. Darius Parchman, SD (1-2, 0.51, 5 Sv): 7.9 Yep SUPER USEFUL OOTP THANKS May 14: Sometimes you've got to go your own way to get a win and that's what White Sox hurler Mick Fleetwood (4-2, 3.32) did tonight. Travelling to Oakland for a 2-game series after their dropped 3 out of 4 at Anaheim, Fleetwood got his team started off right with a 3-hit shutout and a 2-0 win. This one was tied through 8 but Lee "Batty" Barnard (2-4, 4.03), clearly laboring after throwing more than 120 pitches (he finished with 139), gave up a 2-run double to 3B Jeff Nation (.250, 3, 18). Which, speaking of... even though those were the only runs of the game, Nation was 4-5 with 3 doubles, the 2-baggers tying the White Sox' team record that's been reached several time, the last time by Tom Brown in 1970. May 15: Sierra Leone has elections today, with almost all seats won by the All Peoples' Congress, due in large part to the fact that the main opposition party, the Sierra Leone People's Party, boycotted the election due to irregularities. As long as the party of the people won, I guess... May 15: The UK's prime minister Edward Heath describes large payments made by the megacorporation Lonrho (the name is a portmanteau of "London" and "Rhodesia") to Duncan Sandys through the tax haven of the Cayman Islands as the "unacceptable face of capitalism". The Wikipedia blurb says that they were trying to install a counter-inflation policy at the time but the deal itself seems like it's got nothing to do with that and much more to do with Sandys accepting the money and then as a member of Heath's shadow cabinet in the late 60s, helping to influence things so that Britain kept doing colonialism in Africa. May 15: Speaking of Rhodesia... the Zambian Army shoots three North American tourists who were visiting the Rhodesian side of Victoria Falls, killing two young women from Canada and seriously wounding an American. May 15: The former Interior Minister of Bolivia, Colonel Andres Selich, is killed, officially by "falling downstairs while trying to escape arrest", although it comes out that - shocker - he was actually beaten to death by the police along with seven other people. Selich is possibly more famous for having led the regiment that captured and executed Ernesto "Che" Guevara. He had later been a part of the three man military junta that had overthrown President Juan Jose Torres in 1971, installing Hugo Banzer in his place. May 15: Victor Marin (0-1, 7.98) deeeesperately needs some reality therapy. He insisted he's aa starter today, which, I guess on the one hand, I understand how he feels that way and all, but on the other... look at that ERA. He does hae 13 Ks in 14.2 IP in relief and the ERA is due to a .415 BABIP but man, now is not the time, Victor! I'm going to do both him and me a favor and ignore this request. May 15: Maybe I'm being unkind to White Sox SP Rich Reese (4-2, 1.55) in the way I've been describing him as a converted reliever every time he shows up somewhere. He did play 36 games in relief last year. He also was a starter throughout the minors and was really the victim of a numbers game his first full year with the team. Today Reese showed he's got starter stuff as he threw an 8-hit shutout against the A's, who are struggling offensively but still a contender, to propel his club to a 3-0 win over their ace Vince Akright (7-2. 2.24). Reese walked 2 and struck out 5 in this one. It was, as you'd expect from the opposing starter, a tight one into the 8th, at least until SS John Johnson (.404, 1, 13) slapped the go-ahead single to make it 1-0; the Sox rallied for 2 more in the 9th off of a 2B Yukio Hatoyama (.242, 0, 8) and an error by A's SS Brian Wilcox (.350, 1, 5). May 15: I've been hitting all these shutouts; why not give the hitters some love? Angels MI Ivan Perez (.450, 0, 3) doesn't get many chances to start but with SS Richard Simmons (.202, 1, 8) out for the next couple weeks with back tightness, he got a chance to start and really made the most of it. The 28 year old native of the Dominican Republic went 5-5 with 3 runs scored in a 10-9 extra-inning loss to the Royals. "I didn't do much," he said, modestly, after the game. "We didn't get the W, that's what means the most to me. Not that I have a high Desire For WInner rating." May 15: Mets ace reliever Geoff "Hercules" Saus (2-2, 4.09, 9 Sv) was looking like a real Hercules as of last week. However, in his last 3 games, he's allowed a total of 10 runs, 9 of them earned, in 4.2 IP, also picking up 2 losses and 3 of his 4 blown saves during that time. Was he being overused? I mean, he came in rested today... he just had to go up against the Cubs in Wrigley Field where, hanging onto a 3-2 lead in the 9th, he intentionally walked leadoff man and CF Mike Schurke (.333, 1, 6) to load the bases with one out, which sent 2B Juan Perez (.250, 5, 12), who did to be fair belt 26 HRs last year to the plate. He cracked HR #5 on the season and his 2nd in close and late situations to send the home team fans home happy, 6-3. The Cubs' own Hercules, Jesse Kelly (5-0, 1.16, 5 Sv) got the W after coming in to put out a fire started by young John Ratzenberger (1-2, 4.37) in the 8th himself. May 16: Former Chancellor of West German candidate Rainer Barzel resigns as Chariman of the Christlich Dmokratische Union party after his party votes against the entry of West Germany (and East Germany) into the United Nations. Barzel is replaced by a guy you might have heard of: Helmut Kohl, at this time the chief minister of the Rheinland-Pfalz state. May 16: In Tam is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Cambodia by the American-backed government of President Lon Nol. May 16: AC Milan wins the final match of the 1972-73 European Cup Winners' Cup, beating Leeds United 1-0. This competition will eventually merge with the UEFA Cup in the late 90s. May 16: The Astros' road to coming back from a rough start just got a lot harder as they learned that CL Vince Bump's (1-1, 1.77, 6 Sv) shoulder inflammation was much worse than imagined and he'll miss the entire season with it. For now, Adam Eastin (0-0, 4.40, 1 Sv) is the next man up. May 16: Look out, Ernesto Garcia! White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.316, 10, 28) became the 2nd man in the AL and 3rd man in baseball to launch double-digit HRs this season by tying the AL record with 3 in a 7-5 win over the Twins. The Godfather of Shock Rock got things started early with a 2-run blast off of Minnesota starter Bill Lucas (3-3, 4.01), walked to lead off the 3rd, led off the 5th with another HR, singled in the 7th, and then capped off his night with a solo shot off of lefty specialist Walt Gurganus (0-0, 0.87), who actually had not surrendered a run on the season up to that point. "We've got to get guys on base, man," said Cooper after the game. "Like, you know, bass. And guitar. And drums. What am I talking about?" There have been a ton of guys who've hit 3 HRs in a game, the last 3 of whom were Ernesto Garcia last season, including on October 1, 1972. Chance Cooper was the last man to do it in the NL on July 6 of last year. May 16: Rangers SP Chad Daugharty (4-4, 2.76) might not have gotten the memo that we're in the DH league and offense has improved. Today the "Dog" threw a 4-hitter, striking out 4 while walking only 2, against the Royals for a 6-0 win. Daugharty led the AL in shutouts last year so he's no stranger to the "Chicago", as the old folks used to call them; neither is he unfamiliar with lack of support. Today he got all the runs he needed with a 2-run blast by RF Philippe Toussaint (.290, 3, 14) in the bottom of the 1st, so there was that at least. "It's always more fun to pitch while you're ahead," admitted Daugharty after the game. "Is this where I'm supposed to bark?" May 16: Baseball is a weird game sometimes. I did my review of both the Astros and Braves below and... guess who played a 1-0 pitchers' duel? Sure, it was in the Astrodome. Even so, the 'Stros have not exactly been great at run prevention this year, at home or on the road. Today Ernie Alvarez (4-5, 4.32) took matters into his own hands with an 8-hit, 8-strikeout shutout of the Braves. Felix Carranza (1-6, 5.18) was the unlucky Braves man - he was 7.27 3 starts ago but has recovered with only 5 earned runs in his last 22.2 IP, good for a 1.99 ERA. All that's gotten him is 2 no-decisions and tonight's loss. RF Justin Jensen (.279, 5, 15) drove in the only run of the game with a 5th inning single. May 16: So many shutouts today... the Giants' Sam Williams (4-4, 3.79) lowered his ERA by 60 points with a 3-0 whitewashing of the San Diego Padres. Williams, not normally a big strikeout artist, had his fastball dipping and diving and reportedly hitting the uppper 90s and struck out 7 men, many while getting out of jams. The Pads left 10 men on base tonight. His own cause was helped out by a 2 run HR by RF Frank Meneses (.214, 5, 18), who might just start hitting yet. May 16: Speaking of pitchers though, but not speaking of a shutout, the Mets' John Mash (4-1, 3.38) has been around for a while. The 36 year old notched his 150th career win with a 2-hit complete game victory over the Expos, 3-2. Mash, a mainstay in the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves rotation until he was traded for leadoff man Ruberto Yebra (who by the way is currently in SF's minor league system following his release from the Expos last year), is 150-145, 3.46 on his career, including a 45-48, 3.39 record with the Mets. Mash first appeared in the major leagues in 1959 and then was a regular member of the Braves' rotation from 1961 onward. He's not exactly a big black-ink guy - he's only ever led the league in games started in 1962 - but as the record implies, he's been a really solid middle-of-the-rotation guy for basically forever. May 17: All three major networks in the US interrupt their daily broadcasts at 10 in the morning Washington DC time to show live hearings of witness testimony in hte US Senate subcommittee's investigation into the Watergate scandal. These are the first such hearings. They are chaired by North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin and the first witness is Robert Odle Jr., a former official with the Committee to Re-Elect the President. May 17: Four people are killed and 52 injured in Milan, Italy, by a hand grenade that was thrown by a terrorist during a ceremony at a police headquarters. The terrorist, an individual anarchist, claimed he was attempting to kill the Italian Minister of the Interior, who had recently left. He was also, weirdly, a long-time informant for the Italian military intelligence Service (the Servizio Informazioni Militare, or SIM) and had ties to various fascist and anarchist organizations. He will eventually be sentenced to life in prison. May 17: The World Health Organization votes 56-41 to admit North Korea as a member state. This is the first major international recognition of North Korea. May 17: The US Atomic Energy Commission sets off three nuclear weapons underground at a point 30 miles from Meeker, Colorado, in the first test of Project Rio Blanco in the AEC's Operation Plowshare program for the peaceful use of atomic energy. Okay, this is great (by which I mean terrible). Th bombs were exploded for the purpose of "freeing vast quantities of natural gas locked in tightly compacted subterranean rocks"... so yeah, you know, instead of, let's say, using nuclear power, we're blasting holes in the earth to get at more fossil fuels. Ah, the 70s. May 17: Joshua Homme, the frontman for the band Queens of the Stone Age, is born today in Joshua Tree, California. I don't know why but I thought QotSA was Dave Grohl's band, which of course was the Foo Fighters and the second I looked that up I realized I was wrong. They were another 90s Seattle band is I guess my excuse (which, granted, Grohl's not really a Seattle guy but he was the drummer for Nirvana so he kind of was anyway). May 17: Expos 3B Victor Serna (.302, 5, 15) got some really bad news: the ankle injury he suffered on the 14th was, as it turns out, a break and so he'll basically miss the rest of the season. He could theoretically be back by mid-September if everything, um, breaks right. The 32 year old Serna was reallly looking like he'd overcome the issues he'd had with strikeouts in Philadelphia, which is to say he was still striking out a lot (27 Ks in 106 at-bats, on pace for 141 in 554) but was managing to get hits and homeruns that he hadn't in '72. The loss comes at a point in time, too, when SS prospect Phil Collins (.320, 7, 21 in AAA Peninsula) has been lighting up the high minors. This might, then, not be horrible news for the Expos, although it's certainly very bad for Serna. May 17: Hey, so let's take a look at the top 10 shortstops: 10. Charles Bradley, CHC (.188, 1, 5). So... this is a surprising one. I guess it's for the position as a whole and the Cubbies do have John Timonen (.152, 0, 2), who is currently doing John Timonen things while Bradley is hurt, and I guess shortstops in general tend to run young. But Bradley was just last year a backup for Baltimore's John "Lucky Number" Blevins (.269, 1, 8), who just missed the cut here at 11. 9. Henry Villar, PIT (.252, 0, 6). This seems about right for him. He's good, nothing terrific, but fine both offensively and defensively. He walks a lot, which is a trait I like in a guy, although I try not to concentrate on that too hard in-game. It's not really his faut that the Pirates are hitting him 2nd and struggling. 8. Mike Dawson, KC (.207, 0, 3). Another surprising one to me because Dawson's not hitting and in my brain he's firmly in the "he's only here until we find a replacement" club. He's a good defender with soft hands and I guess that does count for a lot. 7. Jonathan Banks, NYY (.304, 0, 2). This on the other hand is probably about right for him. He's good but would I put him ahead of anyone in front of him on this list? Probably not if I'm being honest. 6. John Johnson, CHW (.412, 1, 13). Man, if this years' performance o****ed, Johnson would be #1 with a bullet. He hit .350 and .340 in '69 and '70 before slumping to .233 and .219 the last two years, but... man, it'd be cool if that .400 average was real. I mean, it's not a real .400 but it'd be cool if he was a +.300 guy. He's also a pretty empty average guy, which is a big part of why he's not higher on the list. 5. Oniji Handa, BOS (.221, 2, 12). This unfortunately looks like it's Handa's true level now as a hitter. He's also maybe not quiiiite the insane once-every-third-generation type talent as a defensive shortstop anymore, merely being heads and shoulders above the rest now. He's still awwwwfully good on defense. 4. Justin Ramey, MIN (.221, 4, 13). This is, I don't know, a bit on the high side for the guy. Ramey does a lot of things well and so it's hard to be a real advocate for him the way it is with, say, Johnson or Handa. Ramey's got good defense (he's a 65, which in the OOTP25 20-80 system means he's still 2 standard deviations better than average), good pop for a shortstop, he draws walks to get on base even if he doesn't hit for average, he stole 13 bases last year... just about everything you want a guy to do, Ramey does it. I think I'd still rank Handa and Johnson ahead of him but OOTP has its reasons. 3. Rob Curran, DET (.330, 0, 8). Curran's another "kitchen sink" kind of guy except that this year he's having one heck of a start. Curran's also only 26 so who knows, maybe this is for real. 2. Richard Simmons, CAL (.202, 1, 8). Simmons on the other hand has been pretty bad this year, although a glance at the peripheral numbers tells me he's mostly just been hit-unlucky, with only 10 walks in 89 at-bats (on pace for 52 in 465) and while he's a pull hitter, his BABIP shouldn't be absolutely terrible. Defensively he's the next tier down from Handa but is still very, very good, and if Handa goes to the NL or suddenly retires or something, Simmons could easily become a multi-time Gold Glove award winner. 1. Tony Shannon, PHI (.290, 3, 12). Shannon, on the other hand, is not exactly a picture of greatness at shortstop. What he is, is a top flight hitter. If anything the .290 is below his true potential, as this is a guy who hit .330 and led the NL with a .424 OBP just 2 years ago. Hitting 2nd in front of Alberto Juantorena (.373, 7, 21), Shannon is on pace to score 133(!) runs. Also, nice mustachio. May 17: Hey, remember when I said look out, Ernesto Garcia? Well, Alice Cooper (.350, 12, 31) just had himself another game and a half: the White Sox first baseman went 5-5 with 2 HRs and 3 RBIs in a 5-3 win over the Twins that also got him to within 2 homers of the dreaded Yankees superstar. "It felt like a mic check today," said Cooper after the game. "I was all, testing 1 2 3 and boom, there goes a homerun". Both of his homers came off of Twins starter RIcky Rosas (3-4, 4.20), whose transition back to starter after spending most of his major league career as a relief pitcher has proven to be rocky so far. May 17: In all my years of OOTPeration I don't think I'd ever seen this... Royals starter Ismael Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00) had his debut tonight and got into a bad jam in the bottom of the 7th inning against the Rangers when he allowed back to back singles to 3B Roberto Hernandez (.281, 4, 19) and DH Jimmy Washington (.288, 4, 16). LF Josh Damon (.270, 3, 17) stepped up to the plate and on a 1-2 pitch he hit a sharp line drive to Royals 3B JP Carter (.315, 1, 22) who not only caught it but started a rally-killing 5-4-3 TRIPLE PLAY. Just, wow! Unfortunately for the R's, this wasn't enough, as Gonzalez faltered in the 9th and closer Jorge "Don Quixote" Cervantez (0-2, 1.59) blew the save by giving up 2 hits and committing an error to hand Texas a gift of a 4-3 win. Call it karma, I guess? May 17: Reds SP Steve Waiters (5-3, 3.03) has had his issues the past few years after winning 25 games in 1970 but tonight the man the locals call "the Hulk" was in his old-school form. Waiters shut down the Dodgers on 4 hits with 6 Ks, beating them 7-0 in Riverfront Stadium. "My sinker was diving so hard, people were missing it a lot too," Waiters said after the game. "Oh wait. You guys want a quote, don't you. I meant to say HULK SMASH." Waiters did have 6 shutties last year although poor run support left him with a record of 11-13, 2.60, his fewest wins since 1968 (10-14, 2.26 that year) and his 2nd lowest total since he got into starting for the Reds in 1967. May 17: Sometimes you get one of those days where you're so wild, nobody including the opposing lineup knows where your pitches are going. Such was the case with Braves P Santos Rodriguez (4-6, 3.84) tonight, who threw a 3-hit shutout of the Astros in spite of walking 7 men for the 7-0 win. "I'm happy to contribute," said Rodriguez, who's been struggling a bit in his first year back in the senior circuit after leading the AL in ERA last year (16-10, 2.20) with the Orioles. 2B Kevin Dwyer (.272, 3, 16) had a single, a double, and 3 RBIs for Atlanta, who avoided a mid-week series sweep with the victory. May 18: All 81 people aboard Aeroflot Flight 109 are killed when the Tupolev Ty-104 explodes in the course of an attempted hijacking. The flight had departed Irkutsk early in the morning and while it was making its approach at Chita, the crew called the tower to report that a hijacking was in progress. The hijacker was carrying an explosive device and after he was shot by the security officer on board, he detonated it. This event will not be mentioned by the Soviet press but will leak to the West three weeks later anyway. May 18: The "Cod War" between the UK and Iceland continues, as Britain's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, Joseph Godber, announces that Royal Navy frigates will protect British trawlers operating within the 50-mile territorial limit claimed by Iceland (Wikipedia says it's "disputed" but the only way it's "disputed" is that the UK refuses to recognize Iceland's existence as a sovereign nation). May 18: Archiald Cox is selected by US Attorney Genearl Elliot Richardson to serve as the special prosecutor for crimes committed in the Watergate scandal. Cox is currently a professor at the Harvard University College of Law and was President Kennedy's labor advisor in 1961. He's the guy who will eventually refuse to stop asking for White House tapes and who will be fired for this as part of the "Saturday Night Massacre" on October 20 of this year. May 18: Leonid Brezhnev begins his first official visit to West Germany, the first by a Soviet leader. German Chancellor Willy Brandty greets him at the West German capital of Bonn. May 18: Dieudonne Costes, a French fighter ace during World War I, dies today. He recorded 9 victories (6 confirmed) on the Balkaan front between 1917 and 1918, and later was an early pioneer in French aviation, at one point holding the world distance record after a 3,531 mile flight from Paris to Jask, Persia (a town on the Gulf of Oman in what is now Iran). He was also married to Mary Costes, an actress and singer who, according to a link I found in the Library of Congress, was "one of the last artists to escape from occupied France in 1943" (Dieudonne himself was a flight instructor for the French air force and I presume he left with her but Wikipedia doesn't say). A pretty interesting life, I have to say. May 18: So apparently the Mets clubhouse is getting a little bit tired of P John Ratzenberger's (1-2, 4.37) "little known facts", including "it's a little known fact that cows were domesticated in Mesopotamia and were also used in China as guard animals for the Forbidden City" and "I wonder if you know that the harp is a predecessor of the modern-day guitar. Early minstrels were much larger people. In fact, they had hands the size of small dogs." You'd think his teammates would enjoy these factoids but apparently they are not entirely true. May 18: This is slightly annoying but mostly interesting in the whole "yep, this is how it goes in baseball" way... the Brewers are currently down to what is essentially their 4th string shortstop, starting Cubs castoff Rich Potter (.167, 0, 1). The incumbent Guido Temudo (.129, 0, 2) went on the DL on the 12th with bone chips in his elbow and with his backup Yutaka Enatsu (.333, 0, 2) already out with a broken hand (he's still not due to return until August), I made a panic-signing of two guys: Potter and former White Sox starting 2B Ian Reeder (.500, 0, 0), both of whom were just sitting at home waiting for someone to sign them. Good thing I went after 2 guys and not just 1 because Reeder also went down with a sprained elbow that makes it problematic to use him in the field. In fact, now that I'm looking at this... it's time to go to string number 5 and that means the 21 year old prospect Anatoly Karpov (.306, 0, 5 in AAA Avanstone), who I hadn't considered previously because as of the end of 1972 he'd played a total of 9 games over A ball. Well, he's since hit .413 in 63 AA at-bats and .306 in 72 AAA ones and that is enough for me. Reeder moves to the DL and we are using the chess grandmaster now. May 18: Philadelphia drops one 4-1 to the Cubs at home to lose their 6th straight and fall to 20-15 on the season. Philly has been without CF Bryant Tarala (.268, 3, 4), who's been nuyrsing a sprained ankle, but let's be honest, Tarala is out all the time and this team really should be able to bounce back better. Also, speaking of injury issues, the Cubs are currently missing both 1B Antonio Lopez (.254, 3, 13 and out with an as-yet-undiagnosed hand injury), RF Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18 and gone for another 4 weeks with a sprained ankle), and Alex Vallejo (.404, 2, 4, and battling a nagging back injury I just noticed has cleared up). Today they were held in check by Jason Sanders (3-3, 3.62), who's started to pick it up in his last 3 starts (23.2 IP, 18 H, 8 BB, 10 K, 1.90 ERA) after having an ERA as high as 4.61 earlier in the year. Two of those games have come against these Phillies. For their part, Cubs 3B Sean Gabel (.333, 1, 19) went 4-4 with a run and an RBI and LF Chance Cooper (.223, 4, 14) showed signs of breaking out of a season-long slump with a 2-3, 2 run game. May 19: The Currency Board of the United Arab Emirates begins operations and issues the first UAE currency, the dirham, to replace several different currencies - the Gulf rupee, the Bahraini dinar (used in Abu Dhabi), and the Qatari riyal (used in the other Emirates). May 19: Secretariat wins the Preakness Stakes. He won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago so if he takes home the Belmont Stakes we'll have ourselves a Triple Crown winner! May 19: Man... for the Brewers, when it rains, it pours. SP Angelo Ramos' (1-2, 4.91) elbow turns out to be arthritis. He'll miss the season and at age 37 it's entirely possible he won't come back from this. Milwaukee acquired Ramos from Minnesota over the offseason to add some veteran leadership in a starting rotation that had its moments last year but just couldn't win games. The naysayers said this was because of a terrible, almost historically bad offense, but don't tell that to the Milwaukee front office! French high wire daredevil cum starting pitcher Phillippe Petit (3-1, 1.21) is coming up to take over Ramos' spot in the rotation. May 19: Pirates SP DJ Cheeves (3-4, 3.15) didn't have his best stuff today but it kind of didn't matter because the Mets left 11 men on base and he still got a 2-0 win. Cheeves allowed 6 walks and 7 hits and only struck out 2 batters but still stymied the Mets with a whole lot of clutch outs. "My buds really bailed me out today," said Cheeves after the game. "It's good to be a Pirate." The defending NL East champs moved into a tie for 3rd place with the Mets with a 19-14 record after this game (the Mets are 20-15, as are the Phillies, whose double-header vs the 2nd place Cubs hasn't been decided yet) with the win. May 20: Pope Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria issue a joint declaration stating that they agree on the whole God issue and will be setting up a theological dialogue between the Catholic and Coptic churches. May 20: The British Royal Navy sends thre frigates to protect their fishing vessels from Icelandic disputes as the Cod War turns HOT. May 20: Switzerland votes to repeal an 1874 ban on Jesuits. May 20: At the Gran Premio Delle Nazioni motorcycle race at Monza, defending champion Jarno Saarinen of Finalnd is killed along with Renzo Pasolini of Italy while 10 other competitors are injured in a pileup caused after Pasolini's bike crashed. I think they're still running the big oval at this time, which has to be insanely dangerous for motorbikes... May 20: Speaking of Italian sports... top ranked AC Milan gets upset 5-2 by #10 Hellas Verona, while 2nd place Juventus beats 11th ranked Roma and 3rd place Lazio loses to 9th place Naples. Going into the final week of play, Milan has 44 points to Juve's and Lazio's 43. May 20: The hand owie that Cubs 1B Antonio Lopez (.254, 3, 13) suffered on the 16th turns out to have been a fracture and so he's going to miss the next month. This is absoutely terrible news for the Cubbies, who were already without their star RF and defending NL MVP Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18) for the next month. This is the first bit of extended time that Lopez will miss in his major league career spanning back to his rookie season in 1968, and Chicago does not exactly have a backup plan here. May 20: The Yankees walk their way to victory in the 2nd game of a double-header vs the lowly Indians. They win 9-2 on just 4 hits but 12 walks. Starter Bae-hee Kim (0-1, 30.86), making his debut, surrendered 6 walks before being chased in the 3rd and then the rest of the bullpen just kept pouring it on: long man Miguel Chavez (1-5, 8.10) allowed 2 in 2.2 IP and then Miguel Hernandez (0-0, 5.30) surrendered another 4 before giving it up to Jake Duckett (0-2, 2.35), who managed to pitch a walk-free 1.1 IP to close it up. Unsurprisingly, RF/comedian/walk machine Phil Hartman (.257, 4, 19) got 3 of them; he's got 23 on the year and is on pace for 100. Tracy Mosher (3-5, 6.96), who I recently kicked out of the rotation, made the spot start and got a complete game win for his troubles. May 20: It's not exactly a brush with history, as the hit came in the 4th, but White Sox P Rich Reese (5-2, 1.30) dominated an undermanned Twins team for a 1-hit shutout, winning 3-0 in the first game of a double-header. The only hit came off the bat of LF Jose Villasenor (.254, 1, 4), who was hitting 3rd to give you a sign of how depleted this Sunday squad was. In classic OOTP fashion Reese did have ot pitch his way out of a small jam in the 9th after he let a guy reach on his own throwing error and then issued one of his 2 walks to CF Ronnie Hellstrom (.271, 4, 10). He did shut down final two battlers, in fact striking out Villasenor (Reese's 6th K on the night) for an appropriate ending. May 20: Heading into today's game the LA Dodgers had the worst offense in baseball (in fact, see below because I did the 20-L review on them). A little lineup switcheroo and mostly playing in the Launching Pad changed things up a bit, as they combined for 11 runs on 20 hits in an 11-4 blowout win over the Braves. Danny Fager (.265, 4, 11) went 3-6 with a 2-run HR off of loser George House (4-5, 4.67) in the 6th, and LA pounced on relievers Ernesto Carillo (1-2, 5.56) and Ron Shepherd (0-1, 5.52) for 5 runs in the 8th to turn this one into a laugher. "I wasn't on it today but I guess I didn't have to be," said starter Fernando Apolonio (7-2, 1.64), who got the W in spite of giving up his highest total of runs allowed this year (4). May 20: The second game of the double-header, though... Braves P Frank Evans (3-2, 1.98) throws a sinker that gets into the high 80s on a good day and walks too many guys for his lack of control. He was still 14-9, 2.73 at Montreal last year and today he showed why he's lowkey good: this man forces you to beat him with walks and singles. Today he held the Dodgers to 6 hits for a 2-0 win, tying a season high with 7 strikeouts in the process. Evans hasn't allowed a HR all year and only gave up 13 in 214 IP in the bandbox known as Parc Jarry in 1972. Rogelio Salinas (4-5, 2.22) took the tough loss for the Dodgers, who did manage to climb out of the NL cellar in terms of runs scored with that big first game at least (the new worst: Pittsburgh, who got rained out today). ## Teams in Review May 14: Is it good news that the Baltimore Orioles (10-20, 9 GB) appear to have dropped out of the good-but-not-great holding pattern they've been in the last couple years? Like, probably not, really. But hey, they look bad. In particular they look bad offensively, as their ERA is still above average at 3.76. They are 6th worst in baseball in runs though and for a team that wants to pride itself on defensive solidity, they have the 2nd most errors in the AL. Rotation: The O's have been in a 5 man rotation all season long and I see no reason to change that. So far Rob Reiner (2-4, 4.06) has gone down with an injury with Akihisha Mera (3-2, 3.47 at AAA Rochester) called up to take his place. I don't see a particular need to make any changes here. Bullpen: Montay Luiso (0-1, 1.94, 6 Sv) has appeared in 16 of this team's first 30 games, which is too many, especially with the team this bad so far. On the other hand, he's Montay Luiso. He has a rubber arm. Phil Bowman (0-1, 81.00) ust came back from an injury that had left him to pitching a total of 0.1 IP this year; Heiner Flassbeck (1-1, 4.38) was sent down to get more work. They've got a pretty short 'pen at 4 guys but you don't really need too many guys with the DH rule and also Luiso. Infield: 1B Dante Chairez (.274, 4, 13) has thankfully begun to hit for power: after just 1 HR in April he's got 3 already in May. Obviously the O's need more but it's not like they're going to get more from someone else. Is it time to do the unthinkable, that is, consider moving on from 3B Marco "Pepper" Perez (.176, 1, 8)? The perennial Gold Glover has had two poor seasons in a row at the plate and this year it's taken a step below poor - that .176 is extreeemely empty. They do have 2nd tier prospect Tomaz Pisanski (.327, 4, 12) raking in the minors. For now I'm going to call him up and just try to work him into games once or twice a week and then see what happens. I'm not super fond of this since replacing Perez would move the team backwards, not forwards, defensively but what can you do here? SS is kind of a mess with "Lucky Number" Blevins (.269, 1, 8) still on the DL with a nagging sprained ankle. Eikichi Yazawa (.200, 1, 5) is the brighter prospect than Jay Merry (.143, 0, 1) by far but Merry is a much better fielder so I think it's time to flip-flop these guys for now and make Merry the regular until Blevins is ready. The O's want to be a team built on defense. Outfield: Sergio Viera de Mello's (.272, 1, 6) inability to draw walks (1 on the year for a .277 OBP) is enough to make him persona non grata on this team. For now, not-fat Ralph May (.222, 0, 1) will take over vs righties with TJ Corron (.281, 0, 13) moving around the corners - he's a RF vs RHP and LF vs LHP with Steve Fenney (.303, 0, 3) coming in against southpaws. Fenney, an All-Star with the Pilots in 1969, is an older guy, at least for a bad team (he's 32 so let's not go crazy) with limited abilities but one ability he does have is drawing walks. CF/RF Matt Nugent (.083, 0, 0) is only 26 but man, this guy needs a change of scenery. He looked like a poor man's Bryant Tarala but he's been a no-man's Tarala: his defense in center is not good and although he knows how to draw a walk, he doesn't hit enough to have a useful on-base percentage. He's also been with this team forever but he's only 26 and has options left so I'm sending him down. I'm not suuuuuuper fond of the fact that this leaves Frank Beard (.263, 2, 13) as the team's full-time starter in center but what else are you gonna do? I'm also happy to say that DH/LF Jason Workman (.260, 5, 14), like Dante Chairez, has started to hit. He's at .441 in May after a .171 April. Now one or both of those guys just needs to start plating runners. At the very least, it'd be nice to see his trade value increase so they can get some value back. I should add that he is noooooot a Baltimore kind of guy, with a .018 Isolated Walks number so far and a .024 in combined play last year (he's slashing 251/265/421 since joining the O's). May 14: The Houston Astros (14-20, 4 GB) are reeeeeally struggling this year following 4 consecutive winning seasons, including 90+ in both '70 and '71. Is their goose cooked? The best news is that nobody in the NL West seems to want it. The worst news... is that they're dead last in the NL in runs allowed in spite of playing all their home games in a park that turns the game into the deadball era. Loss #20, yesterday's 16-6 debacle vs the Reds, was a great example: their pitching staff allowed 19 hits, if only 2 HRs, in that game and they just got crushed. That also means they can score some runs, I guess! Rotation: Jason Gilmer (2-6, 4.89) was the starter in that one. He's bad but, like, so are the other two guys who've been in the rotation all year: 1972 Cy Young Award winner Tony Rivera (3-4, 4.40) and Ernie Alvarez (3-5, 4.99). What I'm going to do here is move to a 5 man rotation just in case our problem's been not getting enough rest (hint: it hasn't). That would have maybe meant putting long reliever Caleb McDonald (2-1, 8.03) back in the rotation but he's already pitched his way out of it; instead, Allen Bailey (2-3, 3.19), who made a spot start earlier this year, will get the call. Bullpen: Vince Bump (1-1, 1.77, 6 Sv) suffered a shoulder injury on the 12th that still hasn't been diagnosed yet. That's not a good sign, but we can't really move forward until we know about the nature of the injury. The bullpen hasn't been that bad - (3.13, 6th in the NL) - so I'm not inclined to make changes. I mean, I am inclined to cut Caleb McDonald but he's been a swingman and a mainstay on this team since 1970 so he deserves a liiitle more time to shake it off. Infield: C Jonathan Hyde (.211, 1, 5) hasn't been anything to write home about but his backup / Houston's starter from 1969-1972 Dan Rigdon (.156, 0, 1) has been awful. If defense is the tie-breaker, Hyde's a good defender who's roughly league average at throwing guys out whereas Rigdone is 0-5 in that department this year. In a nutshell, we'll keep things as they are. I think Joshua Waltenbery (.258, 6, 17) has been just fine at first base. Would you like to see him return to .313/25/99 as he got in '71? Sure. .258 with rate stats that project to about 30 HRs is pretty, pretty good for the Astrodome and he's even hit half his HRs this year at home. 2B Adam Blake (.233, 0, 3) hasn't been cutting it but Jordan Green (.270, 3, 8) should return from the herniated disc in his back in about a week. PUSH SS Masanori Hattori's (.228, 2, 15) biggest asset is his utility: he can play every position except catcher. His biggest drawback is that he's not actually that good of a fielder at shortstop. Yeah, actually he's not just "not that good", he's bad: if the -2.3 ZR isn't enough, how about the 9 errors (2nd most in the entire NL) and the .933 fielding average? We have 3 shortstops in the majors including Hattori, two of whom are 34 years of age or older, so I'm going to make a double-move here, cutting Alejandro Chairez (.138, 1, 2) loose and recalling ZZ Top man Dusty Hill (.274, 1, 6) up to start there. In its own way this frees up Hattori to live his best life, which involves giving the team maximum flexibility to pinch-hit for practically anyone at any time. Outfield: LF Jesse Lockhart (.283, 1, 6) has transitioned from #3 to the leadoff role by removing all power from his game. I guess it's still an improvement over last year's .231/8/49 - at least he gets on base - but man, that is not the kind of production one generally wants from a corner outfielder, especially when they've got a guy in Nick Miller (.282, 3, 5) who also can hit in the .280s and also has great speed. I'm going to sort of platoon them for now and even that's only because I remember when Lockhart used to be good. RF Justin Jensen (.275, 5, 14) is doing pretty well! Just thought I'd mention it since he was so bad last year after missing all of 1971. Maybe the Jaden Weaver trade wasn't so bad after all. Just kidding, it was terrible. May 15: Speaking of contending NL West teams who have gotten off to a terrible start, the Atlanta Braves (2-20, 5 GB) have... done that. In fact, with the Reds' win today against the first-place Dodgers, they are now dead last in the division. They do have a game today against the Astros! These guys are surprisingly lackluster offensively in spite of an easy park to play in so they're kind of the opposite of the 'Stros here. Rotation: The starting pitching though has been up and down at best. The "ace" Santos Rodriguez (3-6, 4.40) sure hasn't been pitching like one and the old vet George House (4-4, 4.39) isn't exactly working wonders himself (also House is only 30 so maybe I shouldn't call him an "old vet"). I've more or less already made the changes I was going to make, though, with with knuckleballer Colin Rose (1-1, 1,55) entering the rotation and 1972 14-game winner Frank Evans (2-1, 2.41) getting in there, too. Those moves necessitated a move to the 5-man but the way the original 4 guys were/are pitching, that doesn't seem like a big loss. Bullpen: I had a 4-man bullpen but that seems a little light for the NL so I just now called up the known Canadian Bobby Orr (2-2, 3.04 at AAA Richmond), who'd yet to prove that he can turn minor league success into major league abilities. We'll see! I've got Ron Shepherd (0-1, 4.85, 3 Sv) and Ernesto "Wild Thing" Carillo (1-2, 4.00) sharing the closer role - I just flipped that over a couple days ago so we'll see how that goes. Infield: The game insists that Gianluigi Farinelli (.381, 1, 4) still has what it takes as a catcher so... yeah, what the heck, I'm switching him and Christopher Guess (.200, 0, 0) out a whole day after the trade to send Armando Flores (.350, 0, 17) to Detroit happened. Maybe he just needed a change of scenery and he's got one of the great names in the game, so... let's give him a shot. It's really easy to point the blame as to why the Braves are underperforming on offense at 1B on Hernandez (.250, 3, 14), but is it fair? Sure, he's not doing all that great with the power but he's still walking a lot. You can see why the O's thought of him as an unnoticed gem. That said, the Braves are not known for smarts. They are known for POWER. There is a guy in the minors at first, Peter Frampton (.287, 7, 22 at AAA Richmond), who is hitting for that power, so I'm calling him up and cutting Jose Gomez (.156, 2, 8), who's been on the roster since 1970 but hasn't hit in a year and a half now, to make room. Unfortunately both guys are lefty hitters so there's no platooning happening. I will keep using Nate Ringstad (.312, 2, 7) there a lot vs LHPs because that's what you do with rookies and also I want to keep Ringstad semi-content. Outfield: Michael Lee Aday (.226, 2, 5) is having a rough start to his sophomore season and wit hthe team scuffling like it is, it's time to work out some platoonishness, here with TC Boyle (.444, 1, 3), who's been up since late April but hasn't played much yet. Boyle is much more thoughtful and pensive than the hard-rocking "Meat Loaf" Aday but maybe the personality clash will work out for the both of them. May 15: And what would mid-May be without a review of the San Diego Padres (15-20, 3 1/2 GB). The game had a weird pick for them to win the NL West and that hasn't happened yet. The offense has stagnated and the pitching is only average. Still, they're a fairly young expansion team so it ain't too bad, really. Rotation: Through 35 games, 5 guys have made 7 starts each, the truest of true five-man rotations. And at that, nobody's been super horrible and only Don Henley (4-1, 1.89) has been playing truly lights-out. I think we'll keep things as they are. Bullpen: Dave Cash (2-2, 1.89 in AAA Hawaii) was recently recalled from the minors after striking out 16 guys in 19 innings. He's replacing Greg Grady (0-0, 2.84), who just has a dead arm. I'll have to make a decision once Grady comes off the DL but that'll be a bit. Sorry, it's just kind of a boring situation, although that's just fine by the Whale Vaginas. Infield: C Peter Gabriel (.212, 1, 5) has been lacking the light, the heat he had last season. I'm not going to like send him down or anything but the man has been hitting 2nd and that was a bit ambitious. With the other moves I'm making here, he'll drop down to 7th in the order and I'll be pretty aggressive in pushing Michael DeBose (.192, 0, 5) in there against lefties. Dale Earnhardt (.283, 7, 21) is ust plain doing too much to keep out of the lineup, and Kevin Landry (.218, 0, 4) is hitting like he's 40 (and for that matter, pretty much how he did last season too). I'll keep Landry's bat in the lineup against LHPs = I'd been putting Earnhardt in left there to spell LF Junior Cannon (.237, 1, 10) - but the real bottom line here is, Earnhardt's leading the team in HRs and RBIs and the man needs to play. SS Joe Wicker (.169, 1, 5) got off to an awwwwwful start in all aspects of the game; you can see the hitting but he also committed 11 errors in the first 3 weeks. He actually hasn't had one since I said "okay, the next error this man makes is his last" and now I don't think I can say that? He's no long-term solution but in spite of the errors Wicker is a decent defender and his backup Ben Dowler (.074, 0, 2) is 35 years old. I will start mixing Dowler in more. Outfield: LF Junior Cannon (.237, 1, 10) is really hanging on by a thread right now. Man needs to hit. He's supposed to hit so I'll stick with him in that platooned role. CF Ed O'Neill (.250, 1, 17) is struggling a little at the plate but he's already worth +3 runs of ZR, which puts him into the echelon of Gold Glovers (which, he did win one last year). Yeah, I'll keep him in and just cross my fingers on his bat. RF Ray Herring (.182, 1, 9) on the other hand is in there to hit and he's doing zero of the things - that .182 BA is accompanied by a .214 OBP and a .215 SLG. Also Dr. Phil (.276, 7, 22 in AAA) is belting dingers in Hawaii and he deserved a call-up yesterday. I'll keep pushing Herring in against some lefties to see if he can be effective in *some* role. May 16: Like I said, these are gonna start coming hot and heavy... the Milwaukee Brewers (10-20, 9½ GB) are pretty much as bad as any team in the league and only weren't first to get the old review because they haven't played as often. They do not, at least, appear to be on pace to score the fewest runs ever, which is nice this year at least. The hitting is still not good (9th in runs scored) but it's ahead of the pitching (11th) especially the bullpen (dead last in baseball in ERA with a 6.91). I'd say that changes are afoot but... where? Who? This is not exactly a deep roster. Rotation: The rotation is GARBO too but at least here I've already pushed out the guys I wanted to push out... for now. None of the "big 3": Marius Gaddi (1-4, 4.85), Angelo Ramos (1-2, 4.85), or Tom Bertan (2-3, 4.47) are exactly pitching well. Man, imagine being like a 12 year old Brewers fan coming into this season, seeing a front end of the rotation with these names, and then seeing it performing like this. Devastating. Anyway, the guys I just installed on the back end - Jordan Irons (0-2, 1.76) and Ignazio Visco (1-1, 1.84) are even performing well, so at this literal 20-loss mark, no further changes. Bullpen: Likewise, I've already "demoted" Montay FLores (2-0, 5.14, 3 Sv) to being a co-closer with lefty Chris Allen (0-2, 6.14), who the team just claimed off of waivers from the Yankees. Yep, this is how low we're drooping. Flores is the guy we signed out of the Mexican League in the offseason and... the base stats are not the scary part. The scary part is, he's struck out exactly 1 man in 14 innings so far this year. Otherwise... I should dump Victor Marin (0-1, 7.98), especially with the complaining, but I have a soft spot in my heart for him, I guess, and also he's got 13 Ks in 14.2 IP so it's kind of the opposite problem of Flores. Again, "no change" inasmuch as I've already rotated this bullpen a bit. Infield: C Eddie Dimmock (.186, 1, 4) won the catchers' job out of spring training over Sam Rahn (.370, 2, 8) and has proceeded to suck ever since. Neither guy is likely to be a Brewer if/when they finally get good but just for the sake of the rest of the team I'm going to promote Rahn into the starting role... for now. This team does have good news in the prospect pipeline, with a top 50 prospect (literally #50) at catcher... in rookie ball and at least 2 seasons away. But eventually! I don't like to spend aaaall the time to go through each and every position but I did want to highlight 1B Sergio Sicre (.297, 1, 10) because he's hitting well and he's a good story, having been cast off from the Royals and then been included as a throw-in in that trade that brought in Jun Kim and Matt Brock from the Red Sox. No clutch hitting but it's hard to get those ribbies when there's nobody on base in front of you. Situational stats have a tiny sample size at this point but they're also fine. I'm really reticent to start the 36 year old Pat Jones (.261, 1, 3) at third full-time but on the other hand the guy who's been handling the role, Francisco Carrasco (.218, 0, 4) has been bad and was at best a reclamation project as it was. Carrasco was the 11th overall pick in 1966 and the game still thinks he's a starting caliber player but he's had 526 major league at-bats now and has slashed 236/331/403. Okay, well, fine, that's actually pretty good... but the last 2 years he's hit .214 and now .218. Also the team is bad. I AM DOING THIS. Maybe Carrasco gets some love at DH. Likewise at shortstop I just feel like I don't know what I can do... literally starting the free agent Rich Potter (.222, 0, 1) at short now. At least he's only 30 I guess. I'd called Eric Biron (.125, 1, 3 in AAA Evanston) up to back up in the wake of the Guido Temudo (.129, 0, 2) injury (he's out until late June with bone chips in his elbow) but, like, look at that minor league BA, and if you think he makes it up with the glove you would be wrong. How about we instead call up the former White Sox starting 2B Ian Reeder (.222, 0, 0 at AAA Evanston), who we just signed to a minor league deal last week. Honestly I think I "like" Reeder starting there, although "like" is a strong word. Outfield: Maybe Adam Dittmar (.123, 1, 6) can still hit... but man, the evidence is bad. He hit a Gorman Thomas-esque .146 with the Tigers last year, earning him a release, and now he's 7-57. There is a bad team with nothing to lose waiting out a guy like this and then there is the simple fact that the Brewers have other guys who can surely hit .123 in the major leagues. He gone. I was already phasing him out so there's not all that much to have to fill in at this point. Steve Winwood (.260, 3, 10) was already taking most of the LF at-bats and now Nelson Hernandez (.225, 1, 6), yet another veteran - man, this still feels like an expansion team - will spell him against LHPs. Man, I sure hope this Alan Moore (.195, 0, 2 in A Danville (I traded Ross Poynor for him last month) but he's only 19) kid is worth it because even with a .315 average Fernando Ceballos (.315, 1, 5) feels like not the answer. I also, wait for it, don't have a lot of other options. Nurlan Balgimbayev (.175, 1, 3) had a trial last year, failed, and now is failing to hit in AAA. They do have a top prospect (#43, 3rd in the org) at the position in short-season A ball right now but he's even further away from the shortstop, which, he should be, considering he's 17 years old... Fiiiiinally at DH Jacquot Mazzucato (.145, 1, 12) went from Russ Branyan (who?) style success story last year to being a huge dude so far. Now him I'm going to keep since he's only 24 and he was actually good for us last year. I did call up Bob Keith (.338, 4, 10), who managed to make it to his 25th birthday so HE IS NO CELEBRITY, to come in some and maybe pinch-hit a bit. May 19: If the early reviews are true - and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be - the Minnesota Twins' little dynasty is over with. Which, yes, they've already fired their manager but this team is not, I don't think, a manager away from winning again. I'm a little surprised that the pitching has held up as well as it has, which is to say it's still not great (7th in the AL in ERA), just not, you know, dead last or anything. It's well ahead of the offense, which is 3rd worst in runs allowed (maybe because they haven't played as many games?) and dead last in average (.251). I've already made moves for youth here so there might not be much to do... Rotation: 33 year old Pete Eason has made 2 starts and failed to even get to the 4th inning both times. He says he wants to be in the rotation but surely there are younger and more stamina-y guys to use. For example, Svetislav Pesic (2-2, 4.38), who was doing long relief. Now he is not. Rich Whetzel (1-3, 6.75) has been trash so far but he was OK last year (7-12, 3.99), if very, very finesse, so I'll leave him be for the moment. Bullpen: Matt Brock (0-1, 1.71, 4 Sv) looks like he's followed up a promising year with the Brewers with another good season. Too bad he's stuck on a bad team for the second straight year! This man led the league in saves in 3 out of 4 years from '68-'71. I really don't need to carry 5 relievers with a 5 man rotation and Eddie Grant (0-0, 4.70) has been wild without getting a lot of Ks, which is not a great combo, so I'll let him work on that in the minors a bit more. Infield: C Ric Flair (.132, 0, 3) has been wooooo-ful so far but I'm not giving up on him yet. Let the man do a leg drop onto his leather jacket some more. Brad Reed (.219, 2, 7) is even 4-12 for May but the man can't fool me. 2B Pietro Palmarocchi (.186, 1, 8) is another guy who was kind of supposed to step in and be a guy this year. I'm not pulling him... yet but I am going to mix in their former starting SS Marty Mendel (.417, 0, 2), who is somehow still on this team, in a bit more in an attempt to find something. Hmmm... and also how about Matt Highfield (.276, 0, 7). He was pretty OK at 3B to open the year and it's mostly just the manager's own preference that Darrel Bump (.245, 1, 5), who TBF is a better defender, there now. Highfield is untrained at second and doesn't really have the range for it but hey, what's the worse that could happen? The Twinkies are already in the cellar. Speaking of Bump, I am not super impressed with him although again there is a case to be made for his cannon of an arm. I'll mix Highfield back in there a bit as well so that he's going to play... around a third of the time now. Outfield: LF Jeff Franks (.300, 2, 9) is playing hurt and still hitting .300 for this team, which, hey! I have to monitor him because if this turns into a nagging injury I might have to pull him out of the lineup altogether and maybe even DL him. His backup is Jose "How are you still 27???" Villasenor (.270, 1, 4), who maybe possibly should be starting somewhere. Not his old position of center because he's degraded out there and Ronnie Hellstrom (.280, 4, 10) is doing really well at the plate, but... somewhere. Like... right field? Ernie Griffin (.188, 3, 7) is not holding up there and now has a .213 average with the Twins over 138 games and 451 at-bats. I am mixing in Villasenor a lot there alreaday but I will continue to monitor that situation. The other side is, Griffin hits for power and HRs are about the only thing Minnesota is good at (2nd in the AL with 36 HRs). Or... DH? That's where known Canadian and Yankees castoff Dan Field (.250, 1, 3) is right now. Like, that man made an All-Star game in 1970 and was legit good then too. What happened? He's only 28 himself. Gilles Villeneuve (.242, 4, 10) is also in that mix although I'm switching things out so that it's Villasenor and not him who's backing up both RF and DH against RHPs; hopefully Villeneuve can figure out what a major league strike zone is a bit better facing primarily lefties... May 19: Man, these are coming HOT and HEAVY now... the Kansas City Royals (17-20, 7 GB) were maybe supposed to be a little better than this but not, like, much, right? The offense is as good as any in the league (1st in runs scored although they've also played more games than anyone else, 1st in OBP) but the pitching is... not (11th in runs allowed, 23rd leaguewide in ERA). We'll probably make changes but how many? Rotation: 5.25 ERA! That's bad. Jow Hagan (2-4, 6.31) was more or less replacement level for a bad team the last 2 years, hence the 17-30 record, but he's taken a turn for the worse and will get some reps in the bullpen for now. Israel Rascon (0-0, 2.38) was the long man and now he's going to start, at least for now. I've alreaady done some movement here, most notably sending 26 year old FAILED prospect Ed Chavera (2-4, 6.38) down. Bullpen: The bullpen as it stands right now is not too bad, other than Hagan at least. No changes! Infield: We've got two sub-.200 hitters at catcher, neither of whom is particularly amazing defensively. I'm not just going to swap out Mike Perez (.183, 4, 15) for Chris Campbell (.158, 0, 2) because Campbell might be an even worse contact hitter than Perez is and that's saying a lot. I will work him in more; he'd only been playing when Perez was tired or when I wanted to remove the incumbent for a pinch-hitter. At third, Ryan Newton had a good year in 1970 (.302, 7, 47) followed by a bad 1971 (.232, 4, 36), and now there's a new guy in town who won't relinquish the job in JP Carter (.328, 1, 22). Sorry, Ryan! You might be out the door soon. Going through the top 10s told me that SS Mike Dawson (.207, 0, 3) might actually be pretty god. In any case Uwe Kleimann (.188, 0, 7) is not even hitting at that bad .226 rate from last yer, let alone his .291/361/360 slash he put up in 172 ABs in AAA Omaha last season. Yeah, I'm switching back. Call me indecisive. Outfield: Prince Charles (.215, 2, 11) is not hitting at all but he's a good defensive CFer and that's better than whatever else we've got. I do have Allen Scurry (.231, 1, 5) in there to spell him... now (he opened the year in Omaha and got called up in spite of only hitting .222 down there). I expect the prince to start hitting a little more but if not, hey, we can manage with an offensive hole at a defensive position, I guess. Edwin Manchego (.193. 7. 25) is getting the dingers and the clutch hits and that's saving him at the moment. Man... I wish he could hit for average even to last year's extent (.276, 27, 77). I probably should count my blessings; this lineup is way more powerful than an expansion lineup has any right to be. May 20: Somehow I haven't reviewed the Montreal Expos (11-20, 9 1/2 GB) yet. That would be because they haven't played much, relative to the rest of the league. Rest assured that when they have played games they've been plenty bad. Today in fact they're playing a double-header vs the Cardinals following, it appears, 2 straight rainouts vs the Mets and St. Louis. They've actually been pretty decent at scoring runs (6th in the NL and 13th overall in spite of just 31 games so far) but as expected the pitching, especially the starting pitching (dead last in the NL - 4.87 ERA) has been terribad. (Incidentally, boy oh boy do the schedule-makers not like the Expos and their rainouts - they'll be playing 30 games in June and... 33! in July, and that's in spite of the All-Star Break) Rotation: It looks like the only real move I've made here so far is to call up Richard Dean "MacGyver" Anderson (1-1, 3.33) but now I'm also going to switch out 24 year old Patrick Simmons (2-2, 5.82), who has nice strikeout stuff but has been too wild (22 BBs in 34 IP) to pitch into the 7th consistently. I'll let him try and figure things out in long relief while Erik Schnipke (0-1, 4.15), who saved 23 games for this team last year, will try his hand at starting. This is where he wants to be, apparently, and he did, to be fair, start 7 games for the Mets in '71 and 23 combined for San Diego and New York the year before. Bullpen: The 'pen, at least as it's currently constituted, actually looks pretty OK. I don't exactly trust the DANGER ZONE Kenny Loggins (1-3, 3,63) but that is the fun of having a wild, strikey outey stopper to cap things off. The fans are entertained if nothing else. 35 year old Daniel Roche (0-2, 3.75) has just 2 Ks in 12 IP so far this year, which is a bad sign, but I'll probably stick with him until he completely blows up. Infield: It doesn't really appear to be C Norman Engelman's (.236, 3, 7) year and he tailed off in the 2nd half of last season too, so mixing in the 24 year old Omar Villegas (.077, 0, 0 but just 13 ABs) seems like a good idea. Which I will do. He's more of an outfielder but since he's listed as the backup 1B... Johnny Vargas (.000, 0, 0) was supposed to be our pinch hitting specialist this year but he's not gotten a single hit in 19 at-bats and he's young enough that he should get at least the possibility of more playing time in the minor leagues. In fact, in a move affecting 1B, I'll send Vargas down and replace him with 23 year old 1B/OF Harry Turtledove (.362, 7, 17 at AAA Peninsula) and, given that starter Willie Morales (.264, 4, 16) has been extremely average in both of the last 2 years, I'll go with youth here. Scouts are not super high on Turtledove, who writes speculative fiction in his spare time, but the 1971 4th round pick has hit .302 in the minors with 16 HRs and 61 RBIs in 405 at-bats in AAA over the past year and a half. I actually already called up IF Phil Collins (.320, 7, 21 in AAA) to play 3rd with the recent loss of Victor Serna (.302, 5, 25). Between the two young'uns, let's hope they can overcome that loss! Outfield: Overall, it's pretty good, actually. CF Anton Mendoza (.292, 2, 15) has a negative ZR and is not the long-term answer in center but he's hiting .290 again so I'll choose to ignore it for now. Speaking of ignoring bad defense, LF Willie Ortega (.273, 7, 25) has 7 errors in the outfield already, "good" for a .887 FA. I will trust those will stop but I might need to make a decision there if he keeps dropping fly balls. May 20: Oh boooy there are a lot of these this week... the Los Angeles Dodgers (18-20, 4 GB) started the season on a 10-1 tear and have been 8-19 ever since. That's... a problem. They're still 2nd in the NL West (MORE LIKE NL WORST AMIRITE) because nobody in the division wants to step up but man, this ain't good. They have the worst offensive attack in the league at the moment and while the pitching has been great, it does legit add up to a below-.500 team. If I'm the Dodgers, and for the terms of this exercise I am, I would be kicking myself if we didn't try harder. Rotation: The only rotational move is one I already made: 28 year old Mario Juarez (2-2, 2.53) just isn't lasting long enough into games to be a legit starter so I've replaced him with Chris Valenzuela (0-0, 2.45). Otherwise this is the #1 ranked SP staff in the NL and probably Major League Baseball (2.67 ERA). Bullpen: In fact, we reeeeeeeally don't need to be carrying a 10 man staff (the Dodgers are KINGS OF THE 5 MAN ROTATION) and so that means we're going to end our dalliance with former Astros closer Jon Douglas (0-1, 6.28). His peripherals are actually kind of good so I expect someone will snatch him up. Otherwise, Alec Cosby (2-6, 4.22, 3 Sv) has been reeeeeeeally bad the last couple weeks but this is a man who led the NL in saves last year and had a sub-2.00 ERA so I'm going to stick with him. Infield: C Jason Davis (.238, 2, 13) is hitting at about the level he was at in 1971, which is nice since he fell to .195 last year but it's still not really adequate hitting even for a catcher. Jason Zimmerman (.115, 0, 2) isn't anything special himself, although he does have a better arm and Davis has been terribad at throwing runners out this year (runners are 15/17 against him this season). ACTUALLY, you know what? 1970 2nd round pick Gary McCord (.241, 4, 18 at AAA Albuquerque) was about to be Rule V eligible this year and has been... okay, not super great himself, but he's got a much better wing, as the 12/24 RTO % in the minors this year indicates. He's gonna come on up and just straight-up start because what do we have to lose. 3B Robin Gibb (.285, 7, 17) was definitely overachieving in the 3 hole but now he's nursing a sprained elbow and won't be back for another week. I hate it! The Doogers have a bunch of not-quite-MLB level talent at this position it seems and for now Gustavo Reyna (.333, 0, 2) is hitting well enough so I'll just leave him there until Gibb returns and then I will cross my fingers and hope the Manxian (as in, from the Isle of Man) will still swing some good lumber. Shortstop is a complete mess right now and I don't like any of the options... no, wait, I like one of them. Ronney Yitzakhi (.324, 2, 7) has been a utility guy for me this year, playing all 3 outfield positions in addition to short so far. This is why guys like this are so valuable! He'll slot in as my shortstop. There is absolutely zero on the farm that could come up so he's truly the last option. Tommy Martin (.123, 0, 1) was the starter but as you can see, the man's not hitting at all, and Luis Solis (.182, 0, 1) not only wasn't hitting (granted, in 33 at-bats), he's not the Dodgers kind of fielder either. Outfield: Things have gotten so bad that Lou Morgenstern (.239, 6, 18) is currently hitting 3rd because... he's a proven major league hitter and that's more than what can be said for most of the guys on this roster. I did call up the 27 year old Omar Vergara (.296, 6, 12 in AAA), who served as a pinch-hitter in the last couple months of the year last year, because he's raking in AAA and we need all the help we can get. He'll spell both Morgenstern, a righty, as well as RF Ray Costa (.274, 5, 10), who's hitting surprisingly well following a .228 1971 and a .208 1972. He also stands to step in for Greg Cowan (.130, 0, 0) if the Padres castoff can't find his stroke as a pinch-hitter.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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May 20 - 27, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Detroit 29 14 .674 - L1 209 147 .301 36 34 3.03 3.2 5.8 .980 40.0 New York 25 19 .568 4½ W2 201 214 .255 46 12 4.45 2.6 4.5 .982 35.0 Boston 21 18 .538 6 L1 185 127 .281 32 13 3.11 2.8 5.5 .980 45.7 Baltimore 13 24 .351 13 W1 144 166 .249 31 14 3.89 3.8 4.9 .972 44.4 Milwaukee 14 27 .341 14 L2 181 246 .266 30 34 5.34 4.0 5.0 .978 43.2 Cleveland 13 30 .302 16 L2 153 220 .247 40 17 4.69 3.4 5.4 .980 28.1 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% Chicago 25 14 .641 - W3 167 140 .265 30 19 3.27 3.6 4.7 .981 42.3 California 24 16 .600 1½ W2 188 169 .268 32 33 3.92 3.5 4.7 .981 46.7 Texas 24 16 .600 1½ L2 163 138 .264 28 18 3.02 3.9 5.0 .981 36.1 Oakland 24 20 .545 3½ W1 175 161 .271 29 19 3.30 2.8 4.9 .976 45.5 Kansas City 23 23 .500 5½ W1 232 238 .261 31 21 4.78 3.6 4.5 .985 28.9 Minnesota 13 27 .325 12½ L7 155 187 .244 41 19 4.29 3.7 5.7 .977 30.0 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% St. Louis 24 16 .600 - L3 162 154 .245 35 15 3.61 2.9 5.6 .982 50.0 Chicago 25 20 .556 1½ W1 189 182 .262 41 22 3.77 3.5 4.6 .986 47.2 New York 22 18 .550 2 L2 146 151 .265 14 28 3.58 3.2 4.8 .985 43.5 Pittsburgh 21 17 .553 2 W1 137 119 .242 17 4 2.96 2.9 5.7 .983 38.1 Philadelphia 23 20 .535 2½ W1 206 179 .255 31 27 3.62 2.9 5.1 .977 41.4 Montreal 14 24 .368 9 L1 169 210 .258 31 20 4.58 3.6 5.3 .978 34.3 Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO% San Francisco 26 23 .531 - W1 196 194 .251 43 35 3.54 3.0 5.1 .982 21.9 Los Angeles 23 23 .500 1½ W2 148 155 .248 43 12 2.86 2.9 5.4 .977 25.9 Atlanta 20 23 .465 3 W6 179 161 .270 35 14 3.50 3.0 5.9 .981 33.3 Houston 22 25 .468 3 L1 186 214 .246 50 16 3.94 3.8 5.4 .969 26.5 Cincinnati 20 24 .455 3½ L1 196 193 .254 39 22 4.12 2.7 6.2 .978 23.7 San Diego 20 27 .426 5 L1 168 170 .247 22 16 3.16 3.4 5.3 .975 42.9 So... I used to put out the power rankings but frankly they tend to just be a list of teams in order of standings and the really interesting bits are the guys who moved up and down. So in that respect: Yuppies: California moved up from 9th to 3rd with a 4-1 week against the White Sox and the Brewers. They get a makeup game tomorrow against the Brew Crew so expect them to fly even higher!... until they travel to Boston and New York next week. Also making a 6-spot jump where the Atlanta Braves, moving from 17th to 11th with a 5-0 week against the two NL division leaders. Pretty good! Kansas City gets my #3 Yuppies of the Week with a 19th to 14th move off of a 6-1 week that started with a Monday game against the A's, a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox, and then a doubleheader split to make up Saturday's rainout against the Red Sox. Hippies: Bearing in mind that you can only be so dirty until you're in last, nobody had double-minus weeks this week so I guess my unward goes to the Minnesota Twins, who flopped to an 0-5 record against the Royals and Orioles. I'd say they get some relief next week vs the Brewers but a. they're also bad and b. their weekend opponents are the Tigers. I guess the NL hippies are the Cincinnati Reds, who fell from 16th to 18th. That magical year looks like it's not going to happen, guys! They actually went 3-2 this week against the Astros and Cubs but I guess BNN thought they should have done better. Maybe they will against... the Cardinals and Pirates. Good luck with that! ## Major Transactions May 22: The Expos purchased RP Hector Giron (1-0, 1.15) from the Orioles for $10,000. Giron has been with the O's since 1968 so it's sad to see him go but his chances of being a major player on the next good Orioles team is pretty low. Montreal, meanwhile, needs pitching badly; in fact, Giron even started upt until 1971 so he might do some of that again. May 22: The Braves traded minor league C Latimer Roy (.242, 4, 10 at AAA Richmond) to the Astros for C Dan Rigdon (.132, 0, 1). Rigdon lost his starting job to Jonathan Hyde (.204, 1, 5) and hasn't taken it well. He'll get a new chance in Atlanta now; this also allows them to send Christopher Guest (.167, 0, 0) down to AAA to get more playing time. Roy is organizational filler, nothing more. May 23: The Brewers claimed RP Jon Douglas (0-1, 6.28) off of waivers from the Dodgers. Douglas was not good last year, with 9 losses, 10 blown saves in 28 opportunities, and a 4.33 ERA in the Astrodome, and was even worse this year so far so it's clear why the Dodgers dangled him like this. It's also clear why the Brewers, with a bullpen ERA of 6.13, claimed him. May 25: The Braves purchase OF Frank Menner (.300, 1, 1) from the Pirates for $10,000. Menner was barely playing for the Bucs but the Braves are having problems in centerfield so he'll probably play a fair amount more on the new team. The 30 year old Menner waves goodby to the only organization he's ever known, having been drafted in the 5th round in 1965 by the team. May 26: The Indians claimed OF Ben "Rock" Aldridge (.219, 1, 3) off of waivers from the Astros. Let's keep it a buck: Aldridge is not very good. However, neither are the Indians and with Richard Berman (.282, 1, 10) out for the next month with a severe hip strain, they were looking at starting similarly AAAA-ish outfielder Corey Harpst (.260, 3, 4) at the position. The Padres purchased CF Ian Everett (.250, 0, 3) from the White Sox for $10,000. Everett was the White Sox' starter last year but hit just .209 with 2 HRs and 26 RBIs. The Pads are not getting great production of of Ed O'Neill (.226, 1, 7) and with his backup Elijah Johnson frankly looking like a shadow of his former self when he plays out there, Everett should be able to spell O'Neill more or even allow San Diego to send the 27 year old down to try and rediscover his swing. For the White Sox, selling Everett frees up a roster spot for Dave Concepcion (.230, 3, 17 at AAA Iowa). Concepcion isn't exactly lighting the world on fire in AAA himself but he fields well and unlike Everett he's a right-handed bat so he can do a proper platoon with Mohamed Abdelaziz (.198, 1, 11). ## News May 21: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos launches the "Masagana 99" program to increase the nation's rice production after a severe shortage. The word means "bountiful" in Tagalog and the 99 refers to the number of sacks of rice targeted to be delivered per hectare of land. The program will be successful in at least that respect with rice production more than doubling and the nation becoming self-sufficient in 3 years; however, the sudden abundance of rice also left thousands of poor farmers in debt. Sadly, Wikipedia doesn't say what this did for Marcos' wife's shoe collection. May 21: The "Harmony Bridge" is opened between the nations of Malaysia and Thailand. May 21: An 8 year old child is abducted in Italy and then, newsworthily, he is returned 2 weeks later after a ransom of approximately $500,000 US (300 million lira) is paid. May 21: I guess Cannes is still going on because they screen a movie called "La Grande Bouffe" by Marco Ferreri and it nearly incites a riot. May 21: Noel Fielding, the British comedian and actor, is born in Westminster, London. May 21: White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.339, 13, 32) had himself quite the week and it got him the weekly award. He went 12-29 (.414) with *6* homeruns, 8 RBIs, and 7 runs scored. He just won this award two weeks ago, mister greedy gramus, and so I will not shoot another card for him, but he won it! May 21: Now the NL guy, this guy hasn't won it in a while. Astros 1B Joshua Waltenbery (.294, 10, 22), known to Mets fans for years as "Superman", hit .478 (11-23) with "only" 4 HRs, 5 RBIs, and 5 runs. This is the 32 year old's 15th PotW but his first all year; he did win it twice last seaon. The 1963 Rookie of the Year also has made 9 All-Star Games; although he missed last year, so far it's looking like that was a blip and not a trend. May 21: Hey, here's a fun SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK... the top 5 active leaders in saves: 1. Montay Luiso, BAL: 296 2. Geoff Saus, NYM: 212 3. Matt Brock, MIN: 211 4. John Winn, ATL: 191 5. Jesse Kelly, CHC: 175 Interesting that all 5 guys still closing (well, Winn would be but he's hors d'combat for the year). Luiso incidentally is 54 behind the all-time leader Bill Cory, who had 350 in a career spanning 1946-1964. He made the Hall in his first year of eligibility in 1970 because, sure, why not, I guess. The only non-active top 10 guy I've actually seen is Jesse Marshall, who finsihed with 209 (6th) in a 12 year career from 1958-1969, mostly with the A's. He spent 1969 with the Padres and Dodgers, was largely ineffective with LA (4-4, 4.44, 6 Sv) and was released. Do I remember him, you ask? Not really. May 21: I surely have PTSD from this happening ALL THE TIME last year but the Yankees and Indians played an absolute slog of a game today. It ended 2-1 in the 15th with a solo HR by 3B Tommy Weiss (.324, 6, 19) but before then... ugh. Like, nowadays if you leave a guy out there when he can't get Ks, he'll give up hits at a .310 or so clip. In the early 70s it can be more like .280 if guys aren't hitting for power. That seems like a little thing but trust me, it is not. Gene Lueders (4-2, 2.92) got the W for the Yankees by throwing 14 innings and 172 pitches - yeah, he was dead tired but why remove him when he's not giving up anything? - and Ed Lagos (1-1, 5.12) came on in the bottom of the 15th for his 5th save. Reliever Elias Sanchez (1-2, 4.64) took the unfortunate loss; the HR was one of 3 hits he allowed over 3 innings. May 21: Man, I guess it's Deadball Monday. The Phillies and Pirates combined for a total of 7 hits, with Philadelphia's Richard Starkey (7-3, 2.99) just barely outdueling Jeremy Battaglia (3-4, 2.28) for the 1-0 win. The lone run came on an RBI double by C Nikolai Volkoff (.242, 2, 18) in the 2nd so hey, at least we didn't got 15 innings this time! Starkey had 6 shutouts last year; this is his first for 1973. Battaglia, I guess I should point out, did walk 7 guys and was removed for Sparky Lemus (4-1, 1.00, 6 Sv) in the 8th, but even there the Phillies only left 7 guys on base so it's not like he was pitching his way out of jams repeatedly. May 22: The Royal Air Force's Undersecretary of Defense, Lord Lambton, resigns amidst a "call girl" scandal in which he was caught in a photograph with the prostitute, but insists even now that "there has been no security risk and no blackmail". I guess I'm not sure why the photograph (which was taken by the prostitute's husband) was taken then? May 22: White House press secretary Ronald Ziegler delivers a statement from the President regarding the ongoing Watergate scandal, stating that the President did on occasion order wiretapping of telephones in order to discover the source of leaks of confidential information (I guess to be fair TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAIR the biggest scandal of this administration was... well, it was Spiro Agnew, but #2 was the Pentagon Papers). However, he denied any involvement of the installation of listening devices in the Democratic Party offices at the Watergate Hotel. May 22: Royals 2B James Ellroy (.287, 2, 21) set a new team record with 6 RBIs in a 14-6 shellacking of the Twins. Ellroy's big bop was a bases-loaded triple in the 2nd (his 2nd) but he also had an RBI double in the 4th and a 2-run single in the 7th. Yeah, he was a HR away from the cycle on top of all that. "It looked like justice," said Ellroy after the game. "That's what the Twins got. Justice." The previous team record, 5 RBI, was set by C Mike Perez (.191, 5, 16) earlier this year on the 24th in a 17-10 win over the Brewers. Yeah, these Royals have been known to score a few. KC's still only 19-22 because of that 2nd-worst 5.00 ERA but the fact that they're close to .500 at all is saying something. May 22: In news that might be worse for the player than for the team, Cardinals CF Sonny Burwell (.252, 2, 7) is going to miss the next month and a half with a rotator cuff strain he suffered in today's 5-4 win over the Expos. Burwell, who acquired from the Reds last May to shore up the position, had been struggling this year and, well, the incumbent Jim James (.400, 0, 2) is still around. He'll get this time to show what he can do and then we'll figure out what to do with Burwell based on that. The Cardinals are 24-13 and sitting on top of the NL East. May 22: I just noticed this now but earlier in the season Braves RF Henry Riggs (.312, 7, 17) broke the league RBI record. Here's the current top 10, which has another spot in it that's going to get surpassed this year: 1. Riggs (1954-present): 1,578 2. Fernando Rocha (1946-68): 1,571 3. David Decker (1951-71): 1,522 4. Angelo Martinez (1957-present): 1,429 5. Justin Richens (1954-present): 1,410 6. Matt Clayton (1950-66): 1,384 7. Justin Stone (1961-present): 1,379 8. Ty Stover (1955-72): 1,302 9. Bob Mitchell (1948-68): 1,267 10. Ryan Colvin: (1950-70): 1,259 Lorenzo Martinez is currently 12th with 1,243; he'll be cracking the top 10 this month or next as well. The only other active guy in the top 25, and I should say "active" in quotes, is Stephen Clark in 23rd with 1,031. Clark is currently playing for the Taiyo Whales in the Redacted League, where I guess to be fair he did lead the league in doubles in 1972. He's 35 and I'd be surprised if he came back to the States and got another starting job. May 23: Liverpool defeats Borussia Monchengladbach 3-2 on aggregate to win the UEFA Cup. The first game was played at Liverpool where the English team won 3-0 and Borussia was only able to win 2-0 at their own home match. May 23: Jean Paul Sartre publishes the first regular issue of the daily newspaper Libération, which apparently is still being published to this day. May 23: The final paintings of Pablo Picasso, who died on April 8 of this year, are put on exhibit for the first time in a show at the Palace of the Popes in the French city of Avignon. May 23: Yankees SS Akiho Fujimoto (.267, 0, 7) has a sore elbow which is technically a day to day injury but there's no way I'm playing a guy who's already a little iffy as a fielder with a moderate throwing injuryso he'll go to the DL. May 23: A's 3B Chase Jones (.289, 1, 5), who was all kinds of terrible last year (.199, 11, 39), has recently gotten the chane to start at third again thanks to some even worse defensive play by corner infielder Alex Canales (.298, 5, 22, but 11 errors in 29 games at 3rd for an .875 FA), seems like he's been a new man this year and today he even cracked a solo HR in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game 7-6 over the division rival Texas Rangers. CL Kojiro Nakazawa (1-2, 3.94) blew a 6-4 lead in the 9th and then allowed this blast to lose it. "I'm not the kind of guy to make excuses about myself," said Jones following the game, "but I was playing with something I'm not feeling this year". (note: he was not playing injured last year; this is just post-hoc rationalization) May 24: Earl Jellicoe resigns over a prostitution scandal that is somehow a different prostitution scandal than the last one. The British House of Lords, 1973, and hoes: name a more iconic trio. May 24: Ephraim Katzir is sworn into office as the new President of Israel. May 24: An Indian Army brigade of 700 troops ends a 3-day revolt of 300 paramilitary police in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary had caused uprisings in the cities of Gorakhpur and Jahangirabad earlier this week. I have no data on this outside of the Wikipedia entry but that name sure sounds like they're a... monarchist group? May 24: US Congressman William O Mills commits suicide with a shotgun round to the chest after being implicated in the Watergate scandal. Mills (R-MD) failed to disclose that he'd received $25,000 from CREEP (the Committee to Re-Elect the President... again, HOW President Nixon JUST HOW). Before killing himself he called a local radio station and played a recording denying he had done anything improper. And probably the shotgun just fired itself... May 24: So, continuing the Top 10s... left field is going to be a weird position as it's basically, you know, whoever's playing there right now. Still... there are good players there and not-good ones. 10. Rafael Disla, STL (.329, 5, 26). I was a little surprised to see this man this far back but I guess it's about right. He's also the #4 guy in the NL and, if these placings were the same this time last year, he'd be #2 so this might just be his first year out of the All-Star Game. Disla's made 3 of the last 4. 9. Jared Ferrell, CAL (.297, 3, 21). On the other hand, here I feel like the game knows a little bit more than I do, as Ferrell to me is a 27 year old platoon OFer who's just now starting to look like he might be good enough for full-time play. Then again, this is the position rating as a whole and... they also have Willie Vargas (.303, 1, 14) here, in fact Vargas is the starter here right now, so yeah, OK I guess. 8. Pedro Castrejon, CHW (.211, 0, 4). This one's puuuure ratings, as Castrejon is one of two LFs to come over from the Mexican League this year. He's already 35 so don't expect a long career but hey, he could be pretty good for a couple years. 7. Jeff Franks, MIN (.290, 2, 10). Franks came up as a fill-in at 3rd for Mike Brookes, who's now off to Philadelphia, but Franks doesn't play 3rd all that well so he's stuck around in left instead. He's got a .301 average now in 4+ seasons with decent power so, Twins downturn or no, he was due to start for them sooner or later. 6. Aitor de la Rosa, NYY (.324, 6, 22). The other Mexican Leaguer, de la Rosa is 3 years younger than Castrejon and thus far has definitely cashed in on the hype. Hitting behind Ernesto Garcia all season and thus getting just the pickings from when the superstar doesn't jack one over the right field wall at Yankee Stadium, he's still managed to rack up 22 RBIs (on pace for 89) and has already been walked intentionally (4) as he did all last year at Yucatan. I guess the Mexican League doesn't believe in free passes. 5. RJ Dominguez, CIN (.297, 6, 27). Another year, another monster power hitter added to the Reds lineup. They keep this up, they could really and truly be the Big Red Machine in this universe as well as real life. Like de la Rosa, Dominguez has had to generate his clutchosity hitting behind a stud in Jaden Weaver. I guess you could say that Weaver's been a bit nicer about it, "only" getting 11 HRs and 39 RBIs to date. Enough about Weaver! Dominguez was the odd man out in KC so the Reds shipped him off for Alonzo Rivera and Joe Hagan. Both of those guys are working out well for the Royals so I guess this is a wash but hey, good trades help both teams. 4. Bruce Springsteen, BOS (.378, 4, 21). Man oh man are the Brewers going to regret shipping him off. I gues Jun Kim is providing veteran leadership for them and the pitching pieces they sent to Boston are back-of-the-rotation guys at best, but Springsteen looks like he'll be a multi-time All-Star and at age 23 is currently in a virtual tie for 1st in hitting in the AL at .378. 3. Tony Danza, KC (.317, 5, 18). Speaking of batting titles, Danza won last year and seems to have added power this season: he hit 7 HRs all of last year and already has 5. He's also moved down to 3rd afte hitting leadoff most of last year, which is going to increase the RBI opportunities of course. And now he's the #1 LF in the American League according to the Baseball News Network. 2. Henry Riggs, ATL (.312, 7, 17). The old soldier moved off of right field, finally, but as far as the hitting goes he's as deadly as ever. He had to sit out a big chunk of the year so far with inflammation in his right knee, missing 8 games entirely and appearing as a pinch-hitter in 8 more, but now he's there and everyone else in the league is... square. Except for... 1. Alberto Juantorena, PHI (.343, 7, 22). This man has been a one-man wrecking crew since his call-up last July. He's got gaudy enough primary stats but that doesn't even tell the whole tale: he's also getting on base at a .464 clip, which makes the old school writers complain that he's not making the most of RBI opportunities but the younger wags understand that in actuality he's making even more ops for the guys below him. Plus he's 9/14 in steals. Plus he's doing a great job of fielding in left (4.6 ZR), so good that he might be a rare Gold Glove winner who plays regularly at the position (I generally give the award to the top 2 CFs and then the assist leader unless there's someone who absolutely demands otherwise). May 24: Even the Launching Pad yields pitcher's delights sometimes. Such was the case today as Atlanta's Santos Rodriguez (5-6, 3.40) shut the Giants out 2-0 to win a duel against Mike Stuckey (5-4, 4.59). Rodriguez had gotten off to a tough start with 2-4, 5.49 April but he's 3-2, 1.35 with 3 complete games and 2 shutties now in May. "I like to let my actions speak louder than my words", said Rodriguez after the game. Stuckey, who's also been struggling following a solid 1972 (well, at least in terms of ERA: 12-13, 2.37), allowed no walks and also struck out nobody while surrendering 7 hits. San Francisco (24-22) is reeling now, having lost 4 in a row to division rivals Atlanta and Houston. May 25: The Skylab 2 space mission is launched to repair damage to the recently launched Skylab space station. Using a vehicle and equipment from the cancelled Apollo 18 mission, this marks the first crewed space mission for the US since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. May 25: Hector Jose Campora is inaugurated as President of Argentina, ending a period of military rule which had been in place since 1966. The inauguration ceremony degenerates into a battle between police and Peronist militants (i.e. supporters of former dictator Juan Peron) and 4 people are killed. Campora's term will last under 2 months and I'm sure I'll be reporting on the demise so stay tuned, Thriftlon fans! May 25: US Secretary of Defense Elliot Richardson becomes the new Attorney General after the forced resignation of Richard Kleindienst. Bill Clements replaces Richardson at his old position. Richardson will wind up coming back for the Ford Presidency and will become one of two men to hold 4 cabinet positions in his lifetime (he was formerly the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1970-73 and will be Ford's Secretary of Commerce for his final year in office after spending 2 years as the US ambassador to the United Kingdom). I will say that bringing back Richardson was a gutsy move, as this is the guy who chose to resign rather than fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, which is the event that led to Nixon finally resigning. May 25: Claude Levi-Strauss (no relation that I'm aware of to the pants) is elected to the Academie Francaise in place of Henry de Montherlant. The author personally remembers Levi-Strauss as a mid-century "modernist" philosopher (actually, was he a pomo? Now I don't know and I reeeeeeeally don't feel like reading any of his work right now) who was assigned reading as part of his honors English courses in college. May 25: The Hireling by Alan Bridges and Scarecrow by Jerry Schatzberg co-win the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. This verdict is considered controversial (disclaimer: the author has seen neither of these films) and the president of the jury, a little-known actress named Ingrid Bergman, was accused of favoritism for the American productions. May 25: Comedian Demetri Martin is born in New York City. I like Demetri Martin. He's like a nerdy version of Mitch Hedberg. May 25: Man, this Tigers team is soooooo good this year. Their #4 starter Chris Benavides (4-2, 3.61) just had a no-hitter going through 6 and wound up throwing a 4-hit shutout of the A's for a 2-0 win over their ace Vince Akright (8-3, 2.32). 1B Niki Lauda (.299, 9, 23) brought in all the game's runs with a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 3rd and Benavides struck out 8 men in this one. "It is good to get victory ven ve do not score die runs, jah?" said Lauda after the game. Even with the 2-run performance, in which to be fair the Tigers did get 10 hits off of Akright, the team is 1st in all of baseball with a .302 average, which would also be far and away an AL record if it stands (the current record is the 1947 Washington Senators, who hit .284 in 1947 en route to an 82-72 finish. Fernando Rocha (.317, 22, 91), who retired in 1968 and will be voted into the Hall on the first ballot this January, was their leading hitter). May 25: Leave it to Giants ace Josh Matthews (4-3, 2.64) to break his team out of a losing run. To be fair TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAIR the Jints also came up with enough runs but Matthews made it clear they didn't need to today, scattering 7 hits in an 8-0 shutout victory at home against the Expos. Matthews had also gone all the way in the Giants' last win, a 2-1 victory over Houston, but hadn't pitched since then as he needed to rest after having thrown 148 pitches in that game. Today he threw just 88 and was 1 walk away from throwing a Maddux (who?). "I was getting everything in for strikes," said Matthews after the game. "Credit where it's due, the Bank Manager (catcher Mugur Isarescu (.234, 2, 7)) might have pulled a couple of balls back into the zone tonight." San Francisco is now 25-22 and, with the Dodgers losing 3-2 to the Mets today to fall to 21-23, are 2 1/2 game up in the standings. May 26: Syria completes 2 days of parliamentary elections for the first time in almost 10 years. The ruling Ba'ath Party and its allies win roughly 70% of the vote. May 26: The Cod War ESCALATES as the Icelandic Coast Guard boat Aegir fires shells at the British fish trawler Everton, poking at least two holes in it but not injuring any of their 21 man crew. May 26: Two days after the failed munity of the Hellenic Navy, the Greek destroyer departs from NATO manuevers and drops anchor off the coast of Fiumincino, where the commander, other officers, part of the crew receive political asylum in Italy. May 26: Zaid Rifai is selected by King Hussein of Jordan to be the new prime minister as part of a policy to work further to rid the country of Palestinian guerrillas. Rifai, who survived an assossination attempt by Black September in 1970, replaces Ahmad Al Lawzi, who had resigned for health reasons. May 26: "That's Life!", a BBC magazine TV show, is broadcast for the first time. This show will run for 21 years, ending in June of 1994, and its programming leads to several changes in laws and practice, including the introduction of compulsory seat belts for children and the installing of safe surfaces in children's playgrounds (previously English playground equipment had been made of sharpened knives, prompting an episode called "You Can't Even Slide Down These Things"). May 26: Argentina's new president Hector Campora announces hte pardon for all political prisoners in the nation, including members of the Montorenos terrorist group. At the Villa Devoto jail, guards fired on a crowds demanding the liberation of said prisoners; 2 protestors were killed. May 26: A US Secret Service agent was killed when a helicopter patrolling the waters around President Nixon's vacation home in the Bahamas crashed into the ocean. Sadly, Nixon was not on board. May 26: Lee "Batty" Barnard (3-4, 3.54) has been really up and down, this year and in his career. Today was an "up": he threw an 8-hit shutout with no walks and 8 strikeouts against the mighty, mighty Detroit Tigers with a 5-0 win broke Detroit's 4-game winning streak. Barnard outdueled Edgar Molina (8-4, 3.13), who kept things close until getting lit up a bit in the 8th for 3 runs, 2 of them off of a 2-RBI single by 2B Jon Reid (.219, 1, 11). Oakland evens up the series with a shot at winning it... tomorrow, if the weather holds up (note: it will not hold up but the game will be made up on Monday). May 26: The Astros, who've won 4 of their last 5 games, got one heck of a start from the reigning Cy Young champ Tony Rivera (6-4, 3.36), who threw a 4-hit shutout, striking out 8 Pirates and just baaarely squeezing out Jeremy Battaglia (3-5, 2.17) for a 1-0 win. Rivera drove in the only run in the game with an RBI single in the 2nd. "I think I'm finally in midseason form," said Rivera, who is 4-1, 2.47 for the month after a 2-3, 4.46 April. Speaking of midseason form, the Astros moved into a tie with the Dodgers at 22-24, at least pending LA's game vs the Mets (the Doogers are 21-23). May 26: Speaking of NL West teams starting to put things together, the Braves (19-23) won their 5th straight and 7th out of their last 8 with a Very Special George House (5-5, 4,15) shutout for an 8-0 win against the St. Louis Cardinals. House threw just 85 pitches, walked none, allowed three hits, and struck out three. "Who the BLEEP is Greg Maddux?" he said after the game. "Call this a Merle Haggard. I don't know why, just call it that. Better than naming it after your stupid fantasy pitchers. You think you're Kerouac or something? Because you're not." May 26: Not really much to say about the game but the Dodgers did win 4-3 over the Mets to move to 22-23 and stay in sole possession of 2nd place in the NL West. Rogelio Salinas (5-5, 2.37) went 7, got enough run support for once, and Alec Cosby (2-6, 3.86) righted the ship for his first save since May 2 (4th overall). May 27: As part of the new civilian regime in Argentina, the Argentine Congress repeals an anti-Communist law that had been decreed in 1967. May 27: By virtue of the non-retroactivity of Soviet copyright laws, all works published before this date are considered to be in the public domain. I'm not going to pretend I understand copyright law, let alone Soviet Union copyright law. May 27: Herman Barnett, an American surgeon and former aviator with the Tuskegee Airmen, is killed in a plane crash at 47. May 27: St Louis Cardinals RP Dan Schoner (0-0, 0.00), who's been really struggling to stay on the field the past few years, is possibly going to see his season end at 5 games and 5.1 IP as he's out at least 3 months with elbow inflammation. Schoner arrived in St. Louis on June 11 of 1971 but between a torn rotator cuff he suffered 11 days later that kept him out until late last year, a strained abdominam muscle that caused him to miss the first month of the season, and now this injury, he has pitched a grand total of 23 games and 35.1 IP for this club. May 27: The news on LF Henry Riggs (.306, 7, 17) is muuuch better: he's got a sore elbow that will possibly lay him up for the next couple weeks, although given that he's playing in left and this should only affect his throwing, the Braves might live with it. Riggs, 37, is the all-time MLB leader in HRs with 552, all of them with this club, and still leads the team in that category this year. May 27: I guess there was a big old wave of... rain in American League cities because only 3 games are happening today and one of them - Red Sox/Royals - was rained out yesterday and is playing a double-header today to make it up. May 27: I wrote in the team review of the Cubs down below right before their game with the Reds that if CF Alex Vallejo got hurt again they'd be sunk... well, guess what happened? Vallejo got injured running the bases. It's not diagnosed yet so we'll see how bad it is but it's next to impossible for this guy to stay in the lineup, it seems. Ryan Clements (.429, 2, 2) will take over out there for now. The tiny bit of good news here is that the Cubbies won, picking up 13 hits in a nice, offense-y 7-4 win over the Reds. Josh Coffey (5-4, 6.25) got the win with a 7-inning, 4 ER performance that's not enough to keep him in the rotation in my book (also see below) and Jesse Kelly (5-1, 1.26) picked up his 7th save. May 27: I would not say that Frank Evans (4-2, 1.68) had overwhelming stuff today. He had enough to shut the Cardinals out at Busch, 6-0 though, and he did it by relying on his split-finger fastball to induce 4 double plays in the game. "We had our opportunites," said 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.247, 8, 24) who himself went 0-1 with 3 walks, "but we just couldn't do anything with them." Evans walked 4, struck out just 2, and allowed 7 hits. His opponent Tom Waits (4-2, 4.36) also walked 4 and gave up 7 hits (in 7 innings) but fell victim to a 3-run HR by new CF Frank Menner (.500, 1, 3 with Atlanta, .382, 2, 4 overall). ## Teams in Review May 22: I really don't know what direction to take with the San Francisco Giants (24-20, - GB). They're playing over their head in all senses: they're .545 and sitting in 1st in their division, they were expected to be in the NL West cellar, and they're currently being outscored. Do we need to make big changes or do we just accept this as a better than expected rebuilding year? They're 4th in the NL in scoring but I think that's mostly because of how many games they've played; their other stats - 7th in BA (.251), 9th in OBP (.317), heeey 2nd in HRs (40) and 1st in steals (31) indicate that they're average at best and the pitching is also very middle of the pack. Rotation: Obe Olthof (2-5, 5.40) has been struggling hard but a. it's not the 8 ERA type struggling that gets you kicked out and b. his peripherals still look pretty OK. Otherwise, the other big offender in this 5 man rotation is Mike Stuckey (5-3, 4.91). This all combined for me to think they shouldn't drop to a 4 man at this point but maybe in another month. Bullpen: I also don't forsee changes here but because I've already done some stuff out of necessity earlier in the year. Right now I'm most concerned about the Assassin, John Booth (3-0, 1.42, 6 Sv). He's still putting up the numbers but he's struck out 4 guys in 25.1 IP. I guess he did keep up this performance last year with a bad K rate but it's getting worse than "bad"... Infield: I called up Cs Mugur Isarescu (.250, 2, 6) and Stellan Starsgaard (.355, 0, 1) to keep Iggy Pop (.159, 1, 5) from playing tired. Instead, Pop has continued to not hit and now the new kids are doing better. I think it's time to send Pop down to AAA to see if he can refind that stroke... that hit .218 last year but did hit .277 in 1971. It's sad and all but it looks like Justin Richens (.214, 2, 18) is done as a productive first baseman. I see that our organization just sent 1968 12th round pick but still 23 year old Phil Lynott (.327, 4, 17 at AA Amarillo) so I think I'll promote him an extra level and let him take the majority of at-bats at the position. 2B Bob McAdoo (.260, 3, 12) has been slumping lately and doesn't walk (.279 OBP, yuck!) but he's a good fielder and he's young so I'm not putting him anywhere. Outfield: Having too many outfielders is a good problem to have. For now, Frank Meneses (.216, 6, 21) has good power and is our cleanup man but he's still fighting it out with Scott Lammers (.250, 4, 7), who is looking pretty OK after 2 years away from his original team. Jimmy Walker (.224, 3, 6) should be in this mix but he's just not. I'm going to send him down in favor of Elijah Joyner (.311, 2, 12), who lacks Walker's power but I think fits better as a pinch-hitter and lefty bat off the bench (which I mean doesn't fit Walker at all since he's a right-handed batter). May 26: The Oakland A's (23-20, 3 1/2 GB) have fallen off pretty hard after a hot April - they're 8-15 for the month in spite of the 15-5 first month. Unlike last year, the AL West doesn't appear to be a patsy division and so this leads them in 4th and a lot of games to make up. It's still early though, hey! The pitching I think isn't quite what they wanted it to be, although they're still 5th in the AL in runs allowed, and sure, the offense could be better too (it's 7th). It just adds up to a pretty middling team I think. It's also not helping that they're currently playing the Tigers. Rotation: We're in a 5 man rotation now but you get that classic issue of 5 man rotations: why take starts away from your #1 and give them to your worst guy? That worst guy at the mement is Doug Ellis (0-1, 6.16), who's failed to get past the 6th inning in any of his 3 starts to date. I don't think King Decker (0-0, 6.35) has looked particularly great this year in the majors but in AAA Tucson he was... only 2-3 but with a 1.80 ERA and a solid 40 Ks in 60 IP. I'm going to go ahead and drop him in there. Otherwise, much as I'd like to try someone else other than 34 year old journeyman Carlos Torres (3-6, 4.56 and I mean this is a guy with a career 41-53 record and a 3.75 ERA that's kind of bad when you consider the era), there's no way to do so without cutting someone and I'm not ready to do that just yet. Bullpen: Other than pushing Ellis back in here, which, the guy's 0-1, 3.12 with a .226 OBA so far in relief so the badness there was all being overmatched as a starter, I think I'll stick with things as-is. I am scared by lefty specialist Philip Trapasso's (1-1, 0.00) 12 walks in 14 IP but he's otherwise getting results so I'll just cross my fingers. Infield: C Texas Josh Lewis (.284, 1, 14) just feels like a guy I'm going to want to eventually move out from behind the plate. Catchers just have to miss too many games, you know? For now, his backup is the defensively minded Ramiro Gonzalez (.231, 0, 3) and even with 25 year old Jose Gomez (.317, 4, 22) finally looking like he's coming into the potential that the 2nd round pick from 1969 suggests, not only is he not trained anywhere else (first? left?), we'd need to open up that space with a trade. Alex Canales (.296, 4, 22) has already been moved back to first out of necessity: we tried him out at 3rd but in 29 games he committed 11 errors for an .875 fielding average, numbers Butch Hobson (who?) would think were poor. This does move Ray Hawkinson (.239, 0, 8) into a backup role, which I guess sucks for him but also though he's had 241 at-bats over the last 2 seasons and hasn't even cracked .250, so that .369/7/33 performance in 1971 is looking more and more like a fluke., I haaaaate to do this but he leaves me with no choice! Israel Gaytan (.206, 0, 8) is off to a baaad start, he was always an offense-first guy, and the team already had other people in here who can play the position, namely Jon Reid (.206, 1, 8). Reid I guess is kind of a similar profile to Gaytan except that he was a subpar SS instead of a 2B so the hope is he can be... par. Gaytan should still play a decent amount given that Reid also backs up gloveman SS Brian Wilcox (.315, 2, 9), who is not going to hit like this all season long. Again, I'm not going to report on every single position but I'm happy to note that the early returns on 3B Chase Jones (.271, 1, 5) are in and... maybe last year was just a bad version of a fluke? I'm still waiting on that 31 HR power he flashed in 1971 but at this point I'd just take good-enough hitting and a good glove (which, ones did win the GG in 1971). Outfield: I feel like Zach Hadley (.261, 3, 10) is the bumblebee of the A's. Nobody knows why he has a starting job, and he shouldn't... but he does. He did lead the NL in steals in 1969 and 1970 with the Padres so that could be some of it. CF Sammy Hagar (.115, 1, 2) can neither drive 55 nor, apparently, hit .200 so I'm going to send him down to back up the 8 in favor of defensive marvel / singer / songwriter of music including "The First Cut is the Deepest" (yes, really!) and "Wild World" Cat Stevens (.234, 2, 12 at AAA Tucson). David Mesa (.280, 0, 8) has been properly scrappy but Stevens should be a good man to bring in against some lefties while also helping the team out as a pinch-runner and backup outfielder. May 27: The Chicago Cubs (24-20, 2 1/2 GB) are just struggling to survive right now with both 1B Antonio Lopez (.254, 3, 13) and RF Jeremy Taylor (.287, 7, 18) both out until at least mid-June. The lineup is, let's face it, a mess, although I'm not sure how much I can do about it. The pitching... okay, maybe there's more that can be done there. Rotation: Scott Coffey (4-4, 6.40) had something of a "prove it" game in his last outing on the 23rd and he allowed 5 runs on 11 hits in 6 IP to the Expos. This is not proving it. He was scheduled to start today but I think I'm going to go ahead and pull him out of the rotation... well, because people are all tired, I'm going to start him one last time in place of Javy Obregon (3-4, 5.56) and then pushing him into long relief. Obregon hasn't exactly ruled the league himself so hey, maybe if Coffey throws a shutout or something things will change. At the same time, we're moving to a 5 man rotation as nobody on this team looks particularly acey. Bullpen: Jesse Kelly (5-1, 1.35, 6 Sv) is basically the ace of this staff and I'll keep leaning on the 35 year old as much as I can. Otherwise, we've got 3 mid-30s right-handers who come in whenever they're needed and are not tired. There's honest not a great deal to distinguish those guys, except that they're all fairly effective (I mean, not so much Suk-min Moon (0-0, 5.52) this year but at that he's got the best K/W ratio out of anyone). infield: I've been trying to employ a platoon of veteran pinch-hitter Steve Casio (.161, 1, 3) and newcomer Ben Yetman (.000, 0, 0) but Casio is flat-out not hitting. I mean, adding Yetman has been really recent. I'm sticking with this but Casio could be out the door once Taylor and especially Lopez get back. The trade of John Timonen opens up short for Charles Bradley (.160, 1, 5), although he hasn't exactly played like a top 10 shortstop so far. Aurelio Rodriguez (.312, 1, 5) is doing supersub work but even by Cubs standards he doesn't have the range, hands, or arm for the position. So... should I need to replace Bradley, it would be 28 year old last-man-on-the-roster Bill Daniels (.176, 0, 0) who'd be taking up that mantle. Outfield: Hey, at least Alex Vallejo (.361, 4, 7) is healthy (for now)! This team would straight up crumble if he got hurt again (as it is, he's only played in 20 games this year due to several injuries). OF Chance Cooper (.236, 4, 15) is doing what he can in relief of Taylor in right but he really needs to get on the ball hitting-wise. He does have a .388 on-base percentage and he followed up a terrible April (.172, 1, 6) with a good, solid May (.302, 3, 9) although... where are the dingers? You were called up to ding, Chance. Now go forth and ding!
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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May 28 - June 3, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments
AMERICAN LEAGUE LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Detroit 32 17 .653 - L1 243 175 .297 42 43 3.24 3.4 5.7 .982 25.3 44.2 New York 31 19 .620 1½ W8 235 231 .256 54 13 4.20 2.7 4.6 .982 6.3 38.3 Boston 25 21 .543 5½ W3 218 152 .281 41 18 3.08 2.8 5.8 .980 26.3 45.9 Baltimore 17 27 .386 12½ W1 176 192 .250 40 15 3.80 3.7 5.0 .971 10.9 43.8 Milwaukee 17 31 .354 14½ L1 200 270 .265 32 39 5.04 3.9 5.1 .977 -5.4 37.2 Cleveland 16 34 .320 16½ W1 185 250 .243 46 18 4.67 3.4 5.4 .981 6.6 31.6 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Chicago 28 17 .622 - W1 189 165 .262 34 23 3.33 3.5 4.8 .982 24.9 39.4 Texas 28 18 .609 ½ L1 188 155 .263 29 18 2.97 3.7 5.3 .983 24.7 38.5 California 28 19 .596 1 L3 221 203 .262 39 39 3.72 3.5 5.0 .977 19.5 40.0 Kansas City 25 28 .472 7 L1 252 278 .259 32 25 4.69 3.7 4.4 .983 11.8 30.6 Oakland 24 27 .471 7 L7 191 202 .264 31 20 3.59 3.0 5.0 .977 4.4 39.5 Minnesota 17 30 .362 12 W1 189 214 .245 45 20 4.13 3.6 5.6 .977 7.0 28.6 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% St. Louis 27 20 .574 - L3 193 184 .248 45 16 3.64 2.9 5.9 .981 14.4 50.0 Chicago 29 23 .558 ½ W1 216 205 .259 46 27 3.66 3.4 4.5 .986 41.7 43.9 Philadelphia 27 22 .551 1 W1 239 207 .256 32 31 3.76 2.9 5.1 .976 14.1 41.9 Pittsburgh 24 21 .533 2 L2 154 149 .238 19 5 3.08 3.0 5.9 .981 15.9 36.0 New York 23 23 .500 3½ L3 163 188 .261 17 32 3.72 3.2 4.8 .982 16.4 48.1 Montreal 15 29 .341 10½ W1 190 244 .255 34 22 4.56 3.7 5.3 .975 5.8 36.1 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% San Francisco 29 26 .527 - L1 217 215 .253 46 36 3.45 3.0 5.1 .981 8.1 28.9 Houston 27 27 .500 1½ W3 229 241 .252 58 22 3.93 3.6 5.5 .972 4.6 27.5 Los Angeles 26 26 .500 1½ L1 182 190 .253 49 16 3.16 3.0 5.4 .978 36.1 29.0 San Diego 26 27 .491 2 W6 212 185 .256 27 19 3.07 3.3 5.2 .977 38.5 41.5 Atlanta 23 27 .460 3½ L1 201 187 .262 38 15 3.45 2.9 5.9 .981 8.5 32.3 Cincinnati 23 28 .451 4 W2 214 215 .252 40 24 3.93 2.9 5.9 .978 2.8 24.4 Hey, so zone rating is supposed to have a zero baseline, right? Heh... this is just how the game compiles it for lower-BABIP leagues I think. Three teams in the NL have a rating of 35+ and only one team is negative. The clearcut YUPPIES OF BASEBALL are the San Diego Padres, who moved all the way from 19th to 6th this week. Going 6-0 will do that, even if 1 of those series was against the Expos (and the other was against the Mets, where I think the bloom is finally off the rose but still... someone had to do it). Also in that mix are the Red Sox, moving from 16th (which seems waaaay to low) to 8th with... this one's weird: a win over the Royals to end that 3 game series, getting *swept* by the Angels, and then sweeping the A's over the weekend. I guess it's, like, recalibration or something. I think some love should go into the Yankees, too, who "only" moved up 3 places but they were 3 important places, from 4th to 1st (yeah, they're currently ranked ahead of the 32-17 Tigers) with series sweeps of the A's and the Angels (remember them)? It shouldn't surprise you to see the A's at the top of the Dirty Hippies list this week, as they dropped from 8th to 19th in power rankings this week. As noted above, they did play 2 really good teams this week but they stunk against both and now they're 3 games below .500 in a very competitive division. Pittsburgh also gets some negative love here, falling from 7th to a below-average 13th by getting blown out 13-4 by the Astros on Monday, recovering somewhat to win 2 out of 3 at home against the Braves, and then losing 2 of 3 against the Reds. I think all three of those teams are better than their records suggest but then, the Pirates, especially in their current form, might legit be a .500 team. I feel like the other lowkey negative "love" is the Expos, who fell only 4 places but those 4 places put them behind Milwaukee and Cleveland and into the MLB cellar. They were swept by the Padres (as above) and then avoided a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers only by blowing up for 7 runs in the 13th inning of the last game. ON TO THE LEAGUE LEADERS... The current/new(?) AL batting leader is Red Sox LF Bruce Springsteen (.373, 5, 25). He's having a magical 2nd full season. The Joker, Jose Ayala (.368, 11, 35), the Tigers' 3B BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT, is in full-on Joker Mode right now, hitting .364 (8-22) this week after a .455 week last week (10-22). The Angels' Chris Seek (.363, 8, 31) is also hitting out of his mind right now; league be warned that he's hitting .375 in 13 games for the Halos. Ernesto Garcia (.297, 22, 45) is back to hitting dingers again. Beware, the rest of the league. He's of course leading in the slugger categories. Chicago's Alice Cooper (.344, 13, 35) and the Twins' Angelo Martinez (.251, 13, 40) are tied for 2nd in HRs, with Martinez and Ayala sitting behind Garcia in ribbies. Hey, Angelo is only 5 behind; HRs or no, maybe he'll pass the Yankees slugging machine. Steals is Tigers' CF Alvin Romero's (.320, 2, 26) bag, with 22 of them. He's followed by Milwaukee's CF Fernando Ceballos (.254, 1, 12), making the most of a new shot at starting with 12 thefts, and Texas' 3B Bobby Ramirez (.358, 4, 16), who you normally think of as a batting guy but hey, he's got 10 steals this year too (and he had 32 and 27 his first 2 years in the league with Cleveland, so I'm just blind I guess). Right now, in spite of the DH OR BECAUSE OF IT no in spite of it, 2 AL pitchers are ahead of the Jeff Borden pace for ERA: the White Sox' Rich Reese (6-2, 1.54) and California's Gary "We Don't Talk About" Bruno (8-2, 1.57). The Tigers' Jimmy Goddard (9-1, 2.06) rounds out the top 3... and is also one of 2 guys stuck on 9 wins right now with his teammate Edgar Molina (9-5, 3.59). 3 guys have 3 wins. Molina leads everyone with 78 Ks in 110.1 innings, followed by Boston's Michael Pesco (6-6, 3.30), with 67 in 105 and Pesco's teammate Marco Sanchez with 62 in 96. Lots of teammates in these pitching. Malcolm Post (1-0, 2.22) has 9 saves to lead the AL; several guys have 7. For the NL... the hitting leaders aren't nearly as high-flying so far. San Francisco's Jon Berry (.340, 7, 21) has flashed onto the season to lead the league so far. He's followed by a real bottleneck that's several steps behind him: Philly's Alberto Juantorena (.318, 8, 30), Dale Earnhardt (.316, 11, 30), Rafael Disla (.316, 5, 26), and the Mets' Kjell Isaakson (.315, 1, 18). Doesn't look like we're going to see a run at .400 this year, at least not in this league. George Foreman (.295, 12, 39) has 3 HRs in the last 2 weeks, which only gets him into a tie with the Reds' Jaden Weaver (.243, 12, 41), who's been slumping really badly lately, with a .222 and .160 average this week and last. Tied for 3rd and riiiight behind those two are Dale Earnhardt and Houston's Joshua "Superman" Waltenbery (.306, 11, 30), who's having his best season since the Miracle Mets run of 1969. Weaver and Foreman are also 1 and 2 in RBIs, followed by Weaver's teammate RJ Dominguez (.282, 6, 33). Steals-wise, Jon Berry's got 18 of them. It looks like steals race this year will be between him and Alvin Romero. Sonny Burwell (.252, 2, 7) is next with 12 with Juantorena the only other guy in the NL with double-digit steals with 11. Atlanta's Colin Rose (3-2, 1.48) has only recently gotten a starting job and the knuckleballer is now leading the league and ahead of the Borden pace. The Cubs' Mike Larsen (5-4, 1.80) and the Padres' Don Henley (.7-1, 1.84) are next; Fernando Apolonio (8-3, 2.03) has fallen all the way out of contention with 7 earned runs allowed in his last 2 starts (18 IP). Apolonio has the fact that he's tied for the wins lead with the Phillies' Richard Starkey (8-4, 3.35) to console him, at least: several guys have 7. Tony Rivera (6-5, 3.27), Houston's ace who'd gotten off to a slow start this year, now leads in Ks with 72 in 93.2 innings, followed by the leader the last time we checked, George House (6-5, 3.73) with 69 in 89.1 (and a solid 12 in his last 18, including a 9 K shutout this week), and Starkey with 66 in 104.2. Saves-wise, Geoff Saus (3-4, 4.06, 12 saves) has been knocked around a bit lately but he still holds a commanding saves lead over the Padres' Darius Parchman (1-2, 0.36, 9 Sv) the only other man in baseball with more than 8. ## Major Transactions May 31: The Brewers purchased P King Decker (0-1, 4.63) from the A's. Decker started his first game of the season on the 29th and was nominally not too bad: 6 IP, 4 runs but only 2 earned - but the A's are pretty well done with the idea of him as a member of a contending team. Off he goes to Milwaukee, who will try and shape him up. June 2: The Orioles traded CL Montay Luiso (0-1, 2.25, 7 Sv) to the Angels for 2B Kurt Russell (.318, 0, 2). Okay, so this one was not this kind of a blockbuster in real life but hey, the Orioles are in a bad situation, Luiso is 35, and it was high time they got something out of him. That something is Russell, who is awfully good but finds almost as much out of a position in Baltimore as he was in California (who even sent him down this year with the acquisition of Rodrigo Juarez (.294, 10, 34 with CAL)). I'll figure something out, I'm sure. ## News May 28: The Salyut space station, which had been damaged soon after being launched into orbit by the USSR on April 3, falls out of orbit after 56 days and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere. I'm pretty sure nobody was on board but, you know, never trust the Soviets... May 28: The Indy 500, which has already had a death of a driver in qualifications (Art Pollard, a 46 year old who finished in the top 10 in USAC races 30 times, winning twice), is aborted due to a major accident at the start of the race. Driver David "Salt" Walther is critically injured and the first few rows of the grandstand nearest the starting line had numerous spectators suffering burns from a fireball from the accident. The race will pick up again on Wednesday, I'd like to say without further issues but I would be lying... May 28: Cubs' CF Alex Vallejo (.373, 4, 9) was diagnosed with knee tendinitis today, which on the one hand isn't soooo bad - it doesn't affect his hitting at all - but on the other hand is kind of terrible because it's going to hugely impact his running. I'm going to move Chance Cooper (.235, 4, 17) into center for the duration of the injury... or at least until Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18) is back in a couple weeks, then I'll re-evaluate. May 28: Hey, it's not his first trip to the rodeo but it's the first trip this year for Tony "The Boss" Danza (.329, 5, 19), who went 10-24 (.417) with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs to take home his 2nd ever Player of the Week. Danza's other award came at around this time last year: the week ending May 14, 1972. He also, of course, led the AL in hitting and on-base percentage last year and finished 3rd in the MVP race, among other things. May 28: Meanwhile, 3B/OF Dale Earnhardt (.338, 11, 29) is starting to have one of those years where people need to stand up and take notice. The 24 year old race car driver went 13 for 22 this week for a .591 average with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs himself. This is the first time Earnhardt has won any hardware of any kind, at least in baseball. I looked it up but nope, he will not be entering the NASCAR Winston Cup until 1975. He's already on his second marriage, though. I have no idea why his club is listed as the "Washington Nat'l Lea." May 28: SID THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK really it's OOTP's but STILL. Top 5 pitchers in opponents' BA... is this a measure of unhittability or Ks or luck or all of the above? 1. Rich Reese, CHW (5-2, 1.59): .187 2. Howard Rollins, KC (6-1, 3.36): .196 3. Ken Hansen, LAD (2-3, 3.28): .201 4. Roberto Ortiz, ATL/HOU (3-2, 3.06): .201 5. Tony Rivera, HOU (6-4, 3.36): .203 Houston's got 2 guys in the top 5. Their pitching can't possibly be as bad as it's bene so far, right? May 28: Padres SP Cesar Barreras (5-4, 2.82) is having the kind of "season to remember" that nobody but his family will remember in 20 years but STILL. Today he threw his first shutout in 10 tries but also went 3-5 at the plate with a run scored in the 9-0 win over the Expos. Barreras is hitting .500/1/4 in 30 at-bats this year, raising his career BA to a very respectable .265. "You know, I'm more than just a hitter," he said after the game. "I pitch too." May 29: Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, announces her engagement to Olympic equestrian champion Mark Phillips. Very forward-thinking of England circa 1973, I see, allowing equestrian marriage. May 29: Los Angeles becomes the largest city in the US to elect an African-American mayor as city councilman Tom Bradley defeats Sam Yorty, who'd been the mayor for the past 12 years. It's weird to even think of this but LA at the time has the rep as a white conservative city - check out "LA Confidential" and "Chinatown" for some of this - and Bradley's election signaled a sea change in the city's politics. He will serve in this office for 20 years. May 29: Huang Zhen becomes the first diplomatic representative to the US from the Peoples' Republic of China. He will present his credentials to President Nixon tomorrow, who will expunge 18 minutes of them from the public record. May 29: Cubs RF Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18), who won the NL MVP last year and led in HRs (35) and RBIs (100), suffered a setback in his rehab of a sprained ankle and will miss the next month. Taylor, who's been out since the 4th, was expected to come back within a week or two. May 29: Orioles SP TJ Ziegler (2-7, 3.31) has had some hard, hard luck this year but he got a first today for him: a cheap win. Ziegler could barely get into the 7th inning today, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits, but his team blew apart the Royals in KC Stadium to win 13-6. CF Frank Beard (.281, 4, 17) went 3-5 with a 2-run 7th inning homer off of long reliever Joe Hagan (3-4, 6.29) that put this game out of reach; he had 3 runs and 3 RBIs on the night. 2B Bill Murray (.327, 6, 16) and 1B Dante Chairez (.282, 7, 19) also drove in 3 guys apiece, with Chairez adding his 7th HR of the season off of starter Chris Regan (4-5, 5.51) in the first inning. Even with this big win the O's are 2nd-worst in the AL in runs scored with 161 (Cleveland has 158). May 30: The Indianapolis 500 runs 2 days late. I'd love to say there was no further tragedy (see the Sunday recap) but I would be lying. David "Swede" Savage is injured on a fiery crash after losing control of his car. A member of the pit crew steps out onto the track and is run over by a truck racing to the scene of the crash. This man, Armando Teran, is killed. Savage is rushed the hospital but will succumb to his injuries on July 2. The winner of this race, such that it is, is Gordon Johncock, who wins the trophy and goes to visit Savage in the hospital shortly after accepting the trophy. Only 35,000 fans attend due to weather and the fact that it had already been delayed twice. May 30: Sheik Mohammed Ali Othman, one of the members of North Yemen's ruling executive council of the Yemen Arab Republic is assassinated by a group of infiltrators from the neighboring People's Republic of Yemen. The YAE is North Yemen; the PRY is South. May 30: Local elections are held in Norhtern Ireland, with results decided for the first time by proportional representation, using the single transferable vote system. Erskine Childers, a Protestant and native of Great Britain, is elected as President of the state. May 30: All-Star voting begins today. I'm going to see if maybe I'll remember to manually name the AS teams this year; I'm all for weird selections but weird long relievers? Not really. May 30: Is Royals LF Tony Danza (.339, 5, 21) the Ernesto Garcia of doubles? He's sure hitting them this year. In today's 3-1 loss to the Orioles, he hit is 22nd of the season already. 22! Last year's AL doubles leader had 31 to put that into some perspective. To put it into more perspective Danza's on pace for 79; the real life record is 67 by Earl Webb (who?) in 1931 and nobody in real life has hit more than 60 since 1936 (Freddie Freeman (who?) and Todd Helton (who?) hit 59 each in 2023 and 2000, respectively). May 30: So I'll admit, this one made me rage a bit... the Pirates and Braves played a 1-0 pitchers' duel... in _14_ innings! I'm soooo glad these are rare now. Jeremy Battaglia (4-5, 1.87) and Colin "Knucksie" Rose (3-2, 1.48) both went all the way because... why not? They were still getting outs, after all. Rose even set the Braves' record for Ks in a game with 13 in 13.2 IP, and he was still racking up Ks in the 12th inning (and also threw 207 pitches AHAHAHA). This drudge FINALLY ended when LF Jerry Sherk (.247, 4, 16) walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 14th. Atlanta was, I guess, playing without their top hitter Henry Riggs (.279, 7, 17), who is nursing a sore elbow and so I've been pulling him against some lefties. After a game like tonight, maybe I shouldn't... May 31: Indian Airlines Flight 440 crashes, killing 48 of the 65 passengers on board as the Boeing 737 approaches Delhi's Palam Airport. As it makes its descent the aircraft collides with high tension wires 4 miles from its destination. Among the dead is India's Minister of Iron and Steel Mines, Mohan Kumaramangalam. May 31: Let's take a look at the top 10 center fielders in baseball according to the Baseball News Network: 10. Bobby Kaplan, CLE (.278, 4, 20). Hey, it's cool to see the terribad Indians have one guy somewhere in the top 10. Kaplan's a roughly league-average hiter who won his first Gold Glove last season, a trophy he might get some more of given that Norm Hodge (.254, 0, 8) is really starting to look problematic with the bat the past 2+ seasons. 9. Curtis Hope (.167, 1, 8) / Kjell Isaakson, NYM (.308, 1, 18). Admittedly I haven't done this in the past but Hope has clearly lost the starting gig to Isaakson, who has, as you can see, been hitting a looot better. Isaakson's also pretty young at 25 and isn't quite th fielder that Hope is so the grizzled 27 year old veteran will surely hang around for a bit longer. 8. Ronnie Hellstrom, MIN (.274, 5, 15). Like Kaplan, Hellstrom is a bright light on a very bad team. He's also the 3rd best CF in the AL according to these rankings and I'm not sure who else the Twins would appoint as their All-Star representative, so I might expect to see him in the Midsummer Classic. 7. Jon Glynn, BOS (.269, 4, 16). Glynn's been hurt a bit this year but his backups, particularly OF/DH Brian Johnson (.261, 2, 14) have stepped up well. It's also nice to see him hitting well this year after struggling through injuries last season (he hit .229/6/22 in 393 at-bats). 6. Sonny Burwell, STL (.252, 2, 7). I... don't really get this one if I'm being honest. Burwell was an All-Star in 1971 with the Reds and hit .299 with 64 runs scored in 432 at-bats for that division champion. Since then though he's been shuffled off to St. Louis, where he's hit .251, 6, 23 over 95 games and 319 at-bats and it's not like he's got an amazing glove or anything. He does have really good speed: 12 steals in 14 tries so far this year. 5. Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.280, 1, 10). I on the other hand am glad to see Danny the Phantom up this high, as he's kind of a personal favorite. He gets hurt a lot, as guys who slam into walls for a living are wont to do, but when healthy he's a real force. He led the NL in batting in 1971 with a .333 average; he also stole 30 bases that year. So far in 1973 he's been hurt a bit more (only 24 games to date and the Giants have played almost a third of their season) but has hit well and played excellent defense when he's been in there. 4. Alex Vallejo, CHC (.369, 4, 11). Speaking of oft-injured guys (and Valledjo will be #2 of 3 in quick succession here), Vallejo when healthy is a top 20 player in this league. He is just never, ever healthy. Someone should get the memo and make him a RF/DH but a. that's gonna happen in the National League and b. I can understand why you want to play a guy with his obvious skills in the field. 3. Bryant Tarala, PHI (.300, 4, 7). Center fielders just looooooove to get hurt in this league I guess. Tarala's only recently returned from a sprained ankle that caused him to miss the last week and a half; already this season he's also had to deal with a fractured rib and a sore hamstring as well. When he's ready to go he's a Gold Glover and a good leadoff man with deceptive pop. 2. Alvin Romero, DET (.323, 2, 24). Probably my favorite player in this save, Romero is a speed demon. He's already at 20/25 steals, on pace to tie his own record, set in 1970, of 72 thefts. He's also already 13th all-time in the category in spite of only turning 27 this year (with 208 career stolen bases, he's 6 away from Fernando Rocha, who has 214, and just 14 away from cracking the top 10). 1. Big George Foreman, HOU (.296, 10, 34). Foreman doesn't so much patrol center field in the Astrodome as he intimidates it. He's quickly turning into one of the top pure hitters in the game as well, leading the league in doubles last year and appearing to add a whole chunk of power this season (he had a perfectly respectable 19 HRs last year but looks like a lock to pass that). All of this and he's boxing's heavyweight champion, too, winning the victory with a stunning 2nd round TKO against Smokin' Joe Frazier (not a MLBer). May 31: It took 11 innings but Angels CF Carlos Hernandez's (.289, 6, 28) hitting streak reached 20 games, the longest streak all season long (Red Sox OF Bruce Springsteen (.374, 4, 23) had an 18-gamer earlier). Hernandez reached on a single off of tiring Red Sox P Dave Bly (0-1, 2.30), who was into his 4th inning on the night. The very next batter, PH Brad Wagner (.300, 1, 2) then blasted a 2 run HR that gave the Angels a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish. "I'm very fortunate to play with a guy like Carlos," said winning pitcher Andy O'Connor (6-1, 2.45), who pitched the final 2 innings. May 31: In a game defined by walks, the A's take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th against New York thanks to *8* walks by Yankees starter Manny Carbajal (3-3, 3.68), only for closer Willis Chavez (2-4, 2.70) to lose the game as he issues 3 straight walks, the last 2 with the bases loaded. A's 3B Chase Jones (.267, 1, 5) tied the Oakland record for walks in a game with 4 of them. He was also the last Athletic to do the feat on June 27, 1971. He's not exactly a walks merchant like Mike Brookes or the Yankees' Phil Hartman but he does pretty well for himself, especially when he's hitting decently well as he is this year and as he was in '71. May 31: White Sox LF Pedro Castrejon (.240, 1, 7) was one of three marquee free agents signed out of the Mexican League this year, and the Chisox hired him for one reason: to bring his league-leading HR power to Comiskey Park (.324, 33, 78 last year). A combination of a slump and a rotator cuff strain that put him on the DL for more than a month kept it from happening but he *finally* hit his 1st HR of the season, a 2-run knock off of Detroit Tigers' RP Juan Merino (1-0, 5.93) in the 7th inning. And as it turned out, the Sox kind of needed it, as this gave them a 6-1 lead that turned into a 7-4 game with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the top of the 9th. Luckily for Chicago, their stopper Malcolm Post (1-0, 2.35, 8 Sv), who'd already allowed 3 hits tonight, induced OF Frankie Faison (.351, 3, 22) to line into a game-ending double play. Man... hypertextuality is *such* a thing... I am sooooo tempted to add extra notes for everyone, from the fact that Merino was the odd man out when Detroit chose to use a 4 man rotation to start the year and has taken poorly to relief use, to the fact that he was in the game because Bruce Rubio (3-3, 2.90), normally a good control guy, had given up 6 walks in 6 innings, also to the fact that Faison had just helped get his team back in the game by hitting a run-scoring double that chased starter Mick Fleetwood (5-3, 3.48) in the 8th. And now I've said a lot of it. My point is, there are like 20 stories in every game. June 1: General Georgios Popadopolous, who had served as Prime Minister of Greece since shortly after leading the overthrow of the government in 1967, declares that the monarchy has been dissolved and he is the new president of a republic. June 1: British Honduras is renamed Belize in anticipation of its eventual independence from the United Kingdom, which won't happen until 1981. June 1: Heidi Klum, German actress and model, is born in West Germany. June 1: Father Joseph Andre, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest who rescued numerous Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of his country, dies today at 65. June 1: Also passing on today is Mary Kornma (born Mary Evans), who was the leading female character during the silent portion of the "Our Gang" serial. She appeared in those from 1923-26 with a couple of guest appearances in the late 30s, as well as a teenaged version of "Our Gang" called "The Boy Friends" along with Mickey Rooney. June 1: Reds SP Vincent Schiavelli (3-3, 3.27), who you might remember as the subway ghost in the movie "Ghost" (what are we talking about?), is also young pitcher and, if May was any indicator, a pretty good one. He made his first major league start of the year on the 3rd of May - his first career start, in fact (he appeared in 10 games in relief last season), and... put up the above numbers, also striking out 26 vs 16 walks in 44 innings of work. Hey, it's not a lot but it's good for a rookie. June 1: The AL Rookie of the Month is also a hurler: Svetislav Pesic (4-3, 3.23), who shuffled from long relief to the rotation and went 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 30.1 innings over 6 games. He started 3 of those, completing 2. The peripherals... were only OK, 12 Ks and 11 walks, but those will come, right? Pesic is just 23 years of age and hails from Yugoslavia. June 1: The NL Pitcher of the Month was also a pretty young guy: the Padres' Don Henley (7-1, 1.84). Henley really put it into overdrive in May, going 5-0 with a 1.04 ERA, completing 4 of 6 starts and also getting a shutout. He posted a nice 35-10 K/W ratio in 52 IP and all 6 of his starts were of the quality variety. This is the first major award Henley has won; he informed us he will be putting it into a brand new trophy cabinet he calls the "Hotel California". June 1: The AL Pitcher of the Month, meanwhile, was a grizzled old man, at least compared to these first three guys. 28 year old Edgar Molina (9-4, 3.04) went 6-1 with a 2.88 ERA and 47 Ks in 59.1 IP, good for a 7/1 K/9 rate (trust me, that's really good for a starter - the leaguewide rate is 5.3). He did walk 26 guys but I mean a high-90s heater will do that to you sometimes. Molina has won this award one other time in his career: July of 1969. I don't of course have the splits for that month anymore (I guess, since I started this dynasty in that season, you could go dig through these recaps and find them?) but he went 18-13, 3.12 on the season that year. June 1: I'm not surprised at the NL Hitter of the Month and you shouldn't be either. 3B/OF Dale Earnhardt (.331, 11, 30) carried the Padres on his back last month, hitting .358 with 6 HRs (13 extra-base hits total) and 19 RBIs in 27 games. He also walked 18 times, posting an on-base percentage of .466. Like, I know he won't keep it up but those are bona fide MVP numbers right there. Earnhardt just formally won a starting job this year so of course he hasn't had any previous hardware... well, other than that Player of the Week he just won. June 1: And speaking of guys who capped off a Player of the Week award (well, he won 2 of them this month), 1B Alice Cooper (.343, 13, 35) went 35-91 (.385) with 12 HRs, 26 RBIs, and 26 more walks to put up a .521 on-base percentage. Did I say Earnhardt was putting up MVP numbers? I meant Cooper is. And yes, that's even with Ernesto Garcia out there (who by the way is at .295, 19, 42, which, hey, it's nice but he's also not playing the field this year). June 2: 15 people die when the supertanker Esso Brussels is struc by the container ship Sea Witch in New York Harbor. June 2: Carlos Acosta, the Cuban ballet dancer, is born in Havana. June 2: US Army Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Lee Hawkins, the deputy chief of the US miltary advisory group to the Iranian Armed Forces under the Shah, is shot to death by terrorists while in Tehran. Three years later, reports will come out that nine terrorists convicted of killing him are executed; their affiliation remains controversial to this day, with a US report released in 2008 stating that the assassins were members of a Marxist group called the Peoples' Muhajedin of Iran while contemporary reports stated that it was done by an offshoot. June 2: It hasn't been the best year for Giants SP Olbe Olthof (4-5, 4.29) - it hasn't been a good last 3 years, really - but tonight he got everything in order and shut out a top-notch Phillies offense, 3-0. "The Flying Dutchman", a native of Amsterdam, struck out 7, allowing only 4 hits with 2 walks. "Yes, it was a gezellig day for me," Olthof said after the game. "Like the old days down at the gracht." With the last sentence, spit flew all over this reporter's notepad, rendering him unable to collect more quotes. June 3: Russia's supersonic aircraft crashes at the Paris airshow in front of 250,000 spectators including designer Alexei Tupelov. All six an board the craft are killed as well as 8 more on the ground when debris destroys 15 houses in a nearby French village. Another 60 on the ground are severely injured. The airplane made a steep climb shortly after takeoff, and when the engines failed at 2,000 feet the plan went into a steep dive. The crew's attempts to pull it up overstressed the airframe and the plane broke up in the sky. June 3: Israel and Syria repatriate several prisoners of war, with Syria releasing 3 Israeli Air Force pilots in exchange for 47 Syrian and 10 Lebanese POWs. June 3: The Bulgarian "Cup of the Soviet Army" tournament is played in Sofia, with CSKA Sofia (the athletic arm of the Bulgarian Army) defeating Beroe Stara Zagora, 2-1. June 3: Astros 1B/OF Nick Miller (.275, 4, 13) is unhappy in his part-time / pinch-hitter type role. I guess after 2 years of mid-300 at-bat levels, he wants to play more. I don't really see it; I think if the team keeps winning that will probably be a salve but if not, I'll stick him on the trading block and try to remember to ship him off somewhere where he can play more. June 3: The first round of All-Star voting is in! Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 3rd , 1973) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 24th , 1973. The top vote getter at this point is Alice Cooper with 91,996 votes. CATCHER 1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 55,787 2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 49,707 3. John Lennon, Cleveland Indians: 32,185 FIRST BASE 1. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 91,996 2. Angelo Martinez, Minnesota Twins: 63,095 3. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 58,723 SECOND BASE 1. Bill Murray, Baltimore Orioles: 51,176 2. Rodrigo Juarez, California Angels: 48,533 3. Geoffrey Rush, Texas Rangers: 45,839 THIRD BASE 1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 63,703 2. Jose Ayala, Detroit Tigers: 60,420 3. Bobby Ramirez, Texas Rangers: 56,225 SHORTSTOP 1. John Johnson, Chicago White Sox: 55,925 2. Rob Curran, Detroit Tigers: 43,846 3. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 43,460 LEFT FIELD 1. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 75,882 2. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 64,829 3. Jeff Franks, Minnesota Twins: 38,292 CENTER FIELD 1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 65,902 2. Ronnie Hellström, Minnesota Twins: 41,439 3. Jon Glynn, Boston Red Sox: 37,770 RIGHT FIELD 1. Tommy Pron, Oakland Athletics: 57,765 2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 57,151 3. Tom Brown, Boston Red Sox: 47,442 DESIGNATED HITTER 1. Ernesto Garcia, New York Yankees: 85,080 2. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 68,778 3. Jeff Nation, Chicago White Sox: 44,820 STARTING PITCHER 1. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 32,914 2. Marco Sanchez, Boston Red Sox: 32,436 3. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 31,894 4. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 30,075 5. Chad Daugharty, Texas Rangers: 29,603 RELIEVER 1. Montay Luiso, California Angels: 45,182 2. Jake Duckett, Cleveland Indians: 33,015 3. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 31,447 4. Willis Chavez, Oakland Athletics: 30,151 5. Jim Marceau, Detroit Tigers: 27,768 In his career, Cooper is batting .278 with 237 hits, 30 doubles, 5 triples and 77 home runs. Also, note that Joey Ramone is listed in DH; that will change with Danny Villegas now bad for the Tigers. Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 3rd , 1973) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 24th , 1973. The top vote getter at this point is Jason Bushon with 69,553 votes. CATCHER 1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 69,553 2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 55,019 3. Greg Darrow, Chicago Cubs: 40,133 FIRST BASE 1. Joshua Waltenbery, Houston Astros: 68,594 2. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 60,208 3. Lorenzo Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals: 59,853 SECOND BASE 1. Juan Perez, Chicago Cubs: 68,541 2. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 66,424 3. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 66,357 THIRD BASE 1. Dale Earnhardt, San Diego Padres: 62,059 2. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 51,960 3. George Harrison, San Francisco Giants: 46,861 SHORTSTOP 1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 61,404 2. Ronney Yitzhaki, Los Angeles Dodgers: 38,096 3. Henry Villar, Pittsburgh Pirates: 36,833 LEFT FIELD 1. Alberto Juantorena, Philadelphia Phillies: 66,328 2. R.J. Domínguez, Cincinnati Reds: 60,802 3. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 55,672 CENTER FIELD 1. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 68,311 2. Greg Lake, Philadelphia Phillies: 41,946 3. Mike Schurke, Chicago Cubs: 34,806 RIGHT FIELD 1. Matt Williams, St. Louis Cardinals: 60,650 2. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 54,180 3. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 51,765 STARTING PITCHER 1. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 21,534 2. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 20,275 3. D.J. Cheeves, Pittsburgh Pirates: 18,390 4. George House, Atlanta Braves: 17,984 5. Danny Plaunt, Philadelphia Phillies: 17,815 RELIEVER 1. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 25,761 2. Brian Bruno, Pittsburgh Pirates: 22,402 3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 21,699 4. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 19,541 5. Alec Cosby, Los Angeles Dodgers: 19,439 In his 753-game career Bushon is hitting .250 with 653 hits, 74 home runs, 330 runs scored and 335 RBIs. The top vote-getter is... a catcher? Yeah, it's still early. Also, Brian Bruno having more votes than Paz Lemus is just... that man must have a large family. He's 0-1, 6.17 in 11.2 IP over 12 games this year. How. June 3: Angels RF Carlos Hernandez (.283, 6, 28) had his major-league-high 21 game hitting streak snapped today at Yankee Stadium in a 5-1 loss to the Bronx Bombers. Hernandez, who's otherwise having the beginning of a career year for California, went 0-3 with a strikeout; such was the magic of Tracy Mosher (5-6, 5.40) today that he only left one man on base (the team as a whole only left 4). The new current longest hitting streak belongs to the Motor City's 1B Nikki Lauda (.300, 9, 27) with 16 games as he may begin to transition into a part-time role with the return of Danny Villegas (.190, 0, 2 but in his career a per-162 line of .272, 27, 79). (ETA: nope! Lauda also went 0-4 tonight in the Tigers' 8-5 loss to the lowly Twins) June 3: Cris Olivares (2-2, 3.28) is nobody's idea of a power pitcher but tonight the crafy right-hander befuddled the Giants with his curveball, striking out 9 and allowing just 4 men to reach base (3 hits and a walk) in the Phillies' 4-0 win. Olivares led the AL in losses last year with an 8-19 season in spite of a 3.46 ERA. I guess I should note here that he is striking out 5.9 batters per 9 innings, which is both above the league average and the highest mark of his still-young career. ## Teams in Review May 28: The nature of these reviews is of course that you will pretty much always be doing so when a team is in a slump and that's the case here with a Philadelphia Phillies (23-20, 3 GB) team that otherwise seems like they're doing pretty OK, all things considered. They've got one great offense and a pitching staff that... might be able to rely on the offense ot win games. Still, it's also the nature of this stuff that I'll like miss a guy with 50 errors until I do this, so... Rotation: For no realy reson except that the front end isn't exactly spectacular, I'm going to move to a 5 man rotation for a bit. My immediate candidates for the 5 spot are 26 year old Cardinals veteran Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (6-4, 3.87 at AAA Eugene) and Mark "Devo" Mothersbaugh (7-2, 3.02 in AAA). My first thought was to call up Mothersbaugh but... man, Bachler does have a proven track record, albeit as a #3 starter type (with a career record of 32-32, 3.29), so failure to knock down minor leaguers or no, he gets the nod. Bullpen: The bullpen has... not been great and I see at least one change I can/will make: I'm going to DFA Roger Evans (1-2, 4.85) in favor of recalling Jonas Youngblood(0-0, 0.00 at AAA Eugene), who's gotten a couple of long relief appearances in his rehab assignment. I'm not super impressed with his numbers but then, Evans is now 3-2, 5.53 in just about a full year with the team and that's not going to cut it. Otherwise Robby Mournier (0-0, 6.39) could be washed at the age of 37 but 12 innings isn't enough to know that for sure. Infield: Backup C Lee Citro (.161, 0, 1) is going from "okay starter but I wanted more potential" to "potential cut". He's not unhappy (yet) at least! I'll keep him there and hope he gets better, although he's never going to get steady PT here again. 1B Josh Coffey (.250, 1, 20) has failed to hit for like 200 games now (he was .261/14/79 last year). What do I do with him? For now I think the answer is, move him up to 2nd and drop 2B/SS Tony Shannon (.296, 3, 16), who himself is finally starting to hit, to 3rd. Look, this makes sense in 1973 terms. I'm also going to start using Alberto Juantorena (.320, 8, 27) at first, which should, if I know OOTP, get some extra PT in for the outfielders. I would reeeeeally like more production out of third than what I'm getting from Cris Ramos (.190, 0, 6) and Marco Villafana (.229, 3, 8) while Mike Brookes (.296, 1, 13) is out. I'm just not seeing where I'd get that though. My top 3B prospect is out with a torn rotator cuff injury. I guess his understudy has been fine and it's not like I'm losing a lot by getting rid of the 35 year old Ramos, so... he's getting the release outright and we will welcome our new 3rd sacker, Lester Bangs (.286, 1, 10 at AAA). Bangs has already made a name for himself as a music critic; with all the rockstars in the game right now, why not? Outfield: CF Bryant Tarala (.276, 4, 6) answers a lot of potential questions in the outfield now that he's healthy again. I'll keep my mouth shut and cross my fingers about that. May 30: Following a hot start the New York Mets (22-20, 3 GB) have looked... pretty much how I thought they'd look, which in the NL East still keeps them within striking distance of the top. They've got some really good pitching and defense but the hitting, particularly without Joshua Waltenbery (.303, 11, 27 with the Astros), has been as bad as anyone in the league. Rotation: So the first thing I'm seeing here is that 25 year old John Ratzenberger (2-3, 4.97) isn't doing so well in terms of repeating his 1972 success (11-12 but a 2.42 ERA). I think I want to drop down to a 4 man rotation for a bit and I think "Cliff Claven" is going to have to be the odd man out. It doesn't hurt that he was apparently annoying a lot of guys on the ML roster and anonymous sources say that the clubhouse appreciates him not being around anymore. This is still a rotation that's currently working with everyone's favorite replacement man Josh "Party In The Back" Mullett (3-2, 3.56) and reclamation project Trevon Dean (2-4, 3.23) so don't expect this to be the last you've seen (or, I guess more appropriately, heard) from him, pitching staff. Bullpen: Geoff Saus (3-4, 3.67, 11 Sv) has kind of wilted under the pressure of constantly putting out fires recently so I'm going to quietly promote Larry Hilbert (1-1, 2.30) to more of a setup role than just a generic guy in the bullpen. Saus will still (probably) pitch a lot and in high leverage situations but now I'll try and turn to Hilbert a little bit more often. Infield: 2B Bill Heyen (.225, 0, 5) has been bad for a year and a half now and... man, I can't go on with him for much longer. He's a much, much better defensive guy than who I'd use to replace him, flautist Bora Dugic (.286, 1, 3) but if he can't pick things up or even if the Mets continue to fall off, this change is a'coming. For that matter, Mark Spitz (.273, 1, 15) has been good at SS with Chris Allen (NR) out since spring training; maybe he'll just switch over to the keystone once Adams is finally ready to play (which looks like somewhere around the All-Star Break). Somehow 37 year old 3B Vicente Luna (.283, 0, 13) is doing passably well at the position. The game thinks he's terrible because he has no range but 1973 sensibilities say he still has soft hands and a decent arm. And hey, he's hitting pretty well, although I'd love to see some of that 15 HR power he showed in Atlanta. Mark Hamill (.294, 4, 16 in Tidewater) looks like he's tearing it up in AAA and so could be back in the lineup if/when the team goes truly south. Outfield: CF Curtis Hope (.172, 1, 8) is a guy I think I'm not going to give any more rope to though. He's also coming off of a bad year (.211/7/46 and a .294 OBP) and Kjell Isaakson (.310, 1, 18) sure looks like he can pass at the position. Off Hope goes to the bench with a platoon of Ethan Keesee (.328, 1, 8) and John W. Henry (.350, 0, 6) in left now. June 3: The Pittsburgh Pirates (24-20, 2 GB) just seem like they're in kind of a holding pattern right now. It's typical Pirates play - great pitching, bad offense - but unlike last year the offense just doesn't seem to be good enough to break through. They're actually dead last in the NL (well, the league since DH) in runs and first in runs allowed, and they're not the only team in the mid-40s in games played. They're also a little bit stuck by success, if that makes sense: I don't want to pull guys who are doing OK and who were prime members of the club last year. Rotation: The top 3 in the rotation have been fine with 1972 15 game winner Danny Perez (1-4, 5.63)... not so much. I think here I will switch him out with Andy Lagunas (1-0, 3.00), who really doesn't strike me as a guy who should be in the rotation of a conetending pitching staff but on the otner hand, hey, he did win 40 games between 1969 and 1970. Bullpen: With Perez going into long relief, like all of the bullpen outside of Paz Lemus (5-1, 1.36, 8 Sv) and lefty specialist Miguel Urbina (1-0, 3.60) have ERAs over 5. Man... I hate to do this because legit I like submariners but Kent Tekulve (2-0, 5.17) is the odd man out here I guess. I don't even know how the ERA is that bad; his BABIP is low, he's got a good K/W ratio, and he's not giving up a million HRs. Sequencing I guess but this team can't take chances! Coming up in his place is, at least another rock star: Rick Springfield (5-2, 1.66 in AAA Charleston), a 3rd round pick in 1970 who wants and wants Jesse's girl, whoever that is. Infield: Mostly at catcher Doug Connally (.263, 1, 14) seems to be close to back enough that I want to limit Miklos Nemeth's (.194, 0, 2) at-bats vs lefties, which ironically means putting him into the lineup vs RHP on a semi-regular basis so that Connally won't be tired when a southpaw comes up (as happened yesterday when Nemeth had to face Reds star Steve Waiters (6-5, 3.52); he did go 1-3 but a. with 2 Ks and b. how much better would a healthy Connolly have been?). So... 37 year old David Salinas (.247, 0, 10 with Pittsburgh) is not doing great and it just seems like the Pirates are constitutionally incapable of getting production out of first base. And I'm seeing nobody on the farm ready to go either so... I guess we'll have to hope and pray that Salinas, who's now firmly in the "vagabond" stage of his career, is not washed. Outfield: LF Jerry Sherk (.242, 4, 17) seems to be about the only guy I've been able to find who can hit for power for this team and it's only a matter of time (well, literally unknown right now) before Justin Lawson (.261, 1, 6) comes back from a strained hamstring that has kept him out of action for more than a month now. Hmm... I guess this is the guy I can drop down to first; it ain't like Sherk's giving them anything special in the outfield. CF Justin Hearl (.235, 1, 12) is the Pirates' incumbent and... they do have a lot of people who can play the "8" but there's not a lot that I would *want* to play there. George Macchia (.200, 1, 5) is a career .215 hitter, albeit in 85 career at-bats. Michio Kaku (.176, 2, 12 at Charleston) has been struggling in AAA and struggled in the majors last year. He might be too smart for his own good. Jon Baca (.256, 0, 7) hasn't won the AAA starting job from Kaku, which says something about his own talent level. I'll mix in Macchia a little more, I guess. Not really a position but man, PH Mike Grigg (.188, 0, 3) looks like he's done. I don't want to dump him but if I want/need positional help at all, he's just not doing anything.
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